2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
2Corinthians 5:1 (Amplified) says, "For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building (a house not made with hands), eternal in the heavens."
These scriptures tell us that our body, with it's outward appearance, is nothing more than a house in which the real us resides. We don't fall in love with the houses we live in, but with the one who lives in that house. It should make little difference what color our houses are painted, but the one living in the house should matter. We have houses of black, white, brown, yellow and multitudes of colors in between, living around the world today. Showing prejudice towards the color of anyone's house, shows the greatest degree of Spiritual immaturity.
The enemy has used this for thousands of years, in order to divide us and bring chaos. Paul said that, "We no longer regard any man from a purely human point of view. No, not even Jesus Himself," in 2Corinthians 5:16. Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."
If you're a Christian and walk in racism, then you're not walking in True worship, no matter how you sing, dress, or live. Being a Christian and walking in racism, is carnality in its highest form of hypocrisy. This is hate wrapped up in a pretty ribbon and is offensive to God. Little kids don't harbor racism or prejudice, but have to be taught to hate. This comes from the parents and the culture, not from God.
As Christians today, we've seemingly lost the identity we have in Christ Jesus and have conformed to the world. God doesn't look on the outward man/woman, but on the heart. One flower might be blue, while another is red. God created both and both are beautiful in His eyes. The world is rife with political correctness and liberal laws, which now dictate how we should talk and act. The Holy Spirit has already said all of this from God's Word, if we would only listen.
God has directed us to, "Speak to one another in Love. We are neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," in Galatians 3:28 (Amplified). Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our spirit assuring us that we are God's children. 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 read about some of Jesus' suffering in John 8:41 (Amplified), where Jesus says, "I've been doing the things I learned from My Father. You are doing the works of your own father. They said to Him, we are not illegitimate children and born of fornication, we have one Father, even God." This might sound like they're speaking to Jesus about their covenant through Abraham, but they're also accusing Jesus of being born from fornication. Nazareth was a small town and everyone probably knew everyone and everyone's business. They probably all knew that Mary was with child, before being married to Joseph. I'm sure the gossips were asking, "Who is Jesus' real father?" John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "Then they said to him, Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered them, You know My Father as little as you know Me. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also."
Jesus was mocked, disdained, accused of being illegitimate and even demon possessed, by His Own kin. We think we have a problem with people talking about us. Some might not understand you and where you're walking with God, but if God is your Judge, then who cares what they think or say. We must walk where God tells us to walk and live like He tells us to live, so we can be pleasing to Him. We will never please mankind, even if we obey all their laws and statutes. Many will never understand you, if you're living for God.
The world is trying it's best, to conform the Church to it's standards. We're told we must accept anyone and anything that the world thinks and tells us to. There are times when we must take a stand for God and say, "No, this is not right and I refuse to accept it in my life." The beliefs of others should never determine how we think and act. We'll always be different to the world, when we walk with God. We're not called to conform to the world, but to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds by the Word of God." Don't be moved by the color a house is painted, but just love the one who lives there.
Jesus said in John 17:16 (Amplified), "You are in this world, but not of the world." If we allow the world's ideas and prejudices to control your thoughts, then you'll never find peace in this life. You'll be tormented by anger most of the time. The news is out to sell sensationalism and make money by doing so. If everyone turned the news off for two weeks, then then our nation would settle down. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be laws and justice in our land, but we shouldn't allow the chaos.
If you're born-again, then you're called to a higher place and a better Law of the Spirit. We can't be conformed to this world, but must be transformed by renewing our minds with God's Word and the Holy Spirit. We must think and act by the Spirit, instead of the world. Even though things here are unsettling and chaotic, God is still on the Throne and He's able to change things, if we do it by His way of doing and being right. Casting Crowns sing, "The only way we'll ever stand is on our knees with lifted hands."
Friday, June 5, 2020
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Lesson 22 The Church's Identity Crisis
While we're held back by the enemy's Covid19 pandemic, along with the rioting, burning and looting, are you praying and standing in faith that God will cause you to triumph over evil, like His Word says? Many people are glued to their televisions or computers, watching the news. We listen to so many opinions given by the media and then foster our own opinions from them. I hear more blame given to our President, than the war on humanity occurring on our streets.
It's easy to sit at home and call the shots from our living room as "arm chair quarterbacks." If your house, car or business was burned, looted or destroyed though, then you'd be calling for the troops to be sent out and stop it. If one of your family members was being shot or having bricks, Molotov cocktails or bottles of urine thrown at them, then would you be critical of the calls to send the troops or anyone to stop it? The world only sees what it wants to see and accepts things as they are. The peaceful protesters are sincerely seeking justice for George Floyd, who was killed by a policeman. Others though, see it as the opportunity they've been waiting for, in order to steal, kill, and destroy.
There have been wealthy people who've hired busloads of agitators, to cause unrest and turmoil, in the cities they've been bused to. They don't have any regard or care to the innocent people, whose lives they're turning upside down. Our country is already been hit by the Covid19, which has caused so many businesses to close amid the lock down. Fifteen million people have lost their jobs, small business owners might not be able to reopen, schools are closed, and people don't have money to buy food to feed their families. And now, add the chaos of the rioting, looting and burning.
I believe that justice should be done on behalf of this man, whose life was cut short by a policeman, but not at the expense of other innocent people. We can protest the injustice through peaceful means and through prayer. The looters and rioters are paid to take advantage of the opportunity to bring our country down by lawlessness. And they've done so without consequence. Many in Hollywood are even paying their bail, when they should have given that money to George Floyd's family to cover his funeral expenses and more.
The people who are funding and supporting the criminal acts of brutality, will suffer the consequence and penalty for their conduct. There's a justice that is much higher and sees everything happening behind-the-scenes. Dr. Martin Luther King changed the face of a whole nation and he did it without rioting and looting. He did it by protest, prayer and God's help. Some today are staying in the realm of Truth and following Dr. King's pattern, but not everyone is. It's easy to be swayed by the mob, but it's wrong.
Church, this is the time to bring the power of prayer and our faith to bear upon this time of chaos. God tells us in 2Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified), "If My people, who are called by My Name will turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves and pray and seek My Face, I will hear from Heaven and heal their Land." God didn't say that "Everyone must pray," but He said, "If My people." If those who are called by His Name still believe this scripture, then we must pray.
God isn't responsible for all the foolishness that going on, like some would tell you. God isn't the problem, but He is the Answer to the problem. It's easy to stay sitting and say, "Well it must be God's will" or "God's in control of this mess." This is the attitude of people who don't know the Father's heart, which is full of Love for them. Jesus said in John 10:10 that, "The thief comes to steal,kill, and destroy." We can definitely see the enemy's signature on the things happening around our nation today.
It's easy for TV hosts to criticize our Commander in Chief, because they're houses are in gated communities and their families aren't being terrorized. If they were, then you'd hear their cries for him to do more to protect them. If they had worked a lifetime, struggling and sacrificing to build a business, only to watch it looted and burned down, then you wouldn't see them being so gleeful at the riots.
How would you feel, if your children were hiding and crying in fear, but you were unable to protect them? If you're a Christians and involved in these protests, then you must handle it God's way, in prayer and standing on His Promises to deliver and bring justice.
God said in 2Chronicles, that "He will heal our land." Our land is sick with unGodly laws, open defiance in the Face of God and dirty politics, that we've come to the place where chaos is abounding. The Church has accepted it as being the new normal. The Church was given charge and authority over things here on earth. We've been given charge over the demonic things happening in our government too. We have the responsibility to pray and we should have been in prayer, before the chaos began. We shouldn't wait to pray for God to fix things, when the enemy brings disaster. We must listen to the Holy Spirit and He will direct our prayers, before the enemy strikes. If the world saw the power of prayer through the Church, then they would join our prayer meetings and bring their prayer requests before the Lord.
The world sees little results of the Church's prayers. Believers don't see results from their prayers either and say, "God must be allowing it, in order to teach us something." God's Word tells us that, "Even what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord can turn it to our good." When we intercede and come before the Lord in prayer, He can and will turn this chaos into triumph, not only for the Church, but everyone involved. It's time for the Church to shine as the Light of the world and trust God to shut this thing down. We read about Elijah stopping the rain for 31/2 years, by praying. The rain began again, after he prayed again. If one righteous man could do this in prayer, then what could two-billion people who are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus do, if we prayed?
It's easy to sit at home and call the shots from our living room as "arm chair quarterbacks." If your house, car or business was burned, looted or destroyed though, then you'd be calling for the troops to be sent out and stop it. If one of your family members was being shot or having bricks, Molotov cocktails or bottles of urine thrown at them, then would you be critical of the calls to send the troops or anyone to stop it? The world only sees what it wants to see and accepts things as they are. The peaceful protesters are sincerely seeking justice for George Floyd, who was killed by a policeman. Others though, see it as the opportunity they've been waiting for, in order to steal, kill, and destroy.
There have been wealthy people who've hired busloads of agitators, to cause unrest and turmoil, in the cities they've been bused to. They don't have any regard or care to the innocent people, whose lives they're turning upside down. Our country is already been hit by the Covid19, which has caused so many businesses to close amid the lock down. Fifteen million people have lost their jobs, small business owners might not be able to reopen, schools are closed, and people don't have money to buy food to feed their families. And now, add the chaos of the rioting, looting and burning.
I believe that justice should be done on behalf of this man, whose life was cut short by a policeman, but not at the expense of other innocent people. We can protest the injustice through peaceful means and through prayer. The looters and rioters are paid to take advantage of the opportunity to bring our country down by lawlessness. And they've done so without consequence. Many in Hollywood are even paying their bail, when they should have given that money to George Floyd's family to cover his funeral expenses and more.
The people who are funding and supporting the criminal acts of brutality, will suffer the consequence and penalty for their conduct. There's a justice that is much higher and sees everything happening behind-the-scenes. Dr. Martin Luther King changed the face of a whole nation and he did it without rioting and looting. He did it by protest, prayer and God's help. Some today are staying in the realm of Truth and following Dr. King's pattern, but not everyone is. It's easy to be swayed by the mob, but it's wrong.
Church, this is the time to bring the power of prayer and our faith to bear upon this time of chaos. God tells us in 2Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified), "If My people, who are called by My Name will turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves and pray and seek My Face, I will hear from Heaven and heal their Land." God didn't say that "Everyone must pray," but He said, "If My people." If those who are called by His Name still believe this scripture, then we must pray.
God isn't responsible for all the foolishness that going on, like some would tell you. God isn't the problem, but He is the Answer to the problem. It's easy to stay sitting and say, "Well it must be God's will" or "God's in control of this mess." This is the attitude of people who don't know the Father's heart, which is full of Love for them. Jesus said in John 10:10 that, "The thief comes to steal,kill, and destroy." We can definitely see the enemy's signature on the things happening around our nation today.
It's easy for TV hosts to criticize our Commander in Chief, because they're houses are in gated communities and their families aren't being terrorized. If they were, then you'd hear their cries for him to do more to protect them. If they had worked a lifetime, struggling and sacrificing to build a business, only to watch it looted and burned down, then you wouldn't see them being so gleeful at the riots.
How would you feel, if your children were hiding and crying in fear, but you were unable to protect them? If you're a Christians and involved in these protests, then you must handle it God's way, in prayer and standing on His Promises to deliver and bring justice.
God said in 2Chronicles, that "He will heal our land." Our land is sick with unGodly laws, open defiance in the Face of God and dirty politics, that we've come to the place where chaos is abounding. The Church has accepted it as being the new normal. The Church was given charge and authority over things here on earth. We've been given charge over the demonic things happening in our government too. We have the responsibility to pray and we should have been in prayer, before the chaos began. We shouldn't wait to pray for God to fix things, when the enemy brings disaster. We must listen to the Holy Spirit and He will direct our prayers, before the enemy strikes. If the world saw the power of prayer through the Church, then they would join our prayer meetings and bring their prayer requests before the Lord.
The world sees little results of the Church's prayers. Believers don't see results from their prayers either and say, "God must be allowing it, in order to teach us something." God's Word tells us that, "Even what the enemy meant for evil, the Lord can turn it to our good." When we intercede and come before the Lord in prayer, He can and will turn this chaos into triumph, not only for the Church, but everyone involved. It's time for the Church to shine as the Light of the world and trust God to shut this thing down. We read about Elijah stopping the rain for 31/2 years, by praying. The rain began again, after he prayed again. If one righteous man could do this in prayer, then what could two-billion people who are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus do, if we prayed?
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Lesson 21 The Church's Identity Crisis
The same darkness that has blinded the eyes of unbelievers to salvation, has been blinding God's children to their true identity in Christ Jesus. 2Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified) says, "But even if our Gospel (the Glad tidings), also be hidden, obscured, covered up with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God, it is hidden only to those who are perishing and obscured only to those who are Spiritually dying and veiled only to those who are lost. For the god of this world has blinded the unbeliever's minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
Even if you're born-again, there's still the possibility of that the god of this world has blinded your mind to the Truth of healing, which has left you under the bondage of disease or sickness that's not yours to bear. Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, in the above scripture and says some are "Spiritually dying." Even born-again believers can have our faith discouraged by the same trail of the enemy. Satan uses the same trials or failures against the Church that cause our faith to grow weak or die, that he uses to blind the eyes of the unsaved to salvation. You might be born-again and belong to God, but somehow the Truth of the delivering Gospel has been veiled from you, by the god of this world.
1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God has made our Wisdom from God." This Godly Wisdom isn't only about things in the Spirit realm, but is Wisdom fro handling situations and problems in this temporal realm. This is Godly Intervention into trials and situations we face, while we're still on this side of life.
We mistakenly overlook the Godly Wisdom for things we're facing, because we're looking for something earth shattering. We sometimes miss the Super-natural, by looking for the spectacular instead. James 1:5-6 (Amplified) instructs, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving 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 oat sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind."
In 2Kings 5:10-13 (Amplified) we read about a man named Naaman, who commanded the army of the King of Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but Naaman was a leper. Verse 10 says, "The leper warrior was sent to Elisha [the prophet] to be cleansed of his leprosy. Elisha told his servant to tell [Naaman] to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be cleansed of leprosy." Remember how we sometimes miss the Super-natural things, by looking for the spectacular. Naaman was angry when the servant told him to dip seven times in the Jordan and he would be cleansed. Verses 11-14 go on, "But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out out me and stand and call on the Name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the Leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the Rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away. And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then when he says to you, Wash and be clean?" The Super-natural Wisdom overrode Naaman's desire for the spectacular. Verse 15 tells us, "Then [Naaman] went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean."
We cannot be so quick to believe that a simple answer to our prayers, "Isn't God." Just because it doesn't sound earth shattering, doesn't mean it's not God's Wisdom and His instructions. I encountered a woman who was dying from many different things and couldn't receive nourishment from any source. The Lord told her to "Drink buttermilk." She finally did what He instructed. The acid of the buttermilk reduced the inflammation in her body and other chemicals in the milk stopped the disease. This woman went on to live for another thirty years. Drinking buttermilk doesn't sound Spiritual, but it was God's Wisdom.
Sometimes when God tells us something, we dismiss it, because, "Surely God's instructions would be far greater." After reading how Jesus spit, made mud and put it on the eyes of a blind man, I said, "Lord, that's nasty. Why would you do that, instead of of just laying hands on the man?" His answer was very simple. He said, "If I created man from the elements of the earth, then why is it so hard to think I could make parts from the same substance?" Earth shattering? No, just simple Wisdom from on High.
James 1:8 (Amplified) tells us that, "If you are double-minded, you have lost the Wisdom you ask God for." Being double-minded could be something as simple as saying, "I wonder was that really God" or asking your friend, "Do you think that is God or not?" Your carnal mind is interfering with Spiritual Wisdom and the god of this world is blinding you to the Truth and Wisdom of the Father, even though you're born-again. Let's allow God to be God and give us the Wisdom we need.
Even if you're born-again, there's still the possibility of that the god of this world has blinded your mind to the Truth of healing, which has left you under the bondage of disease or sickness that's not yours to bear. Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, in the above scripture and says some are "Spiritually dying." Even born-again believers can have our faith discouraged by the same trail of the enemy. Satan uses the same trials or failures against the Church that cause our faith to grow weak or die, that he uses to blind the eyes of the unsaved to salvation. You might be born-again and belong to God, but somehow the Truth of the delivering Gospel has been veiled from you, by the god of this world.
1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God has made our Wisdom from God." This Godly Wisdom isn't only about things in the Spirit realm, but is Wisdom fro handling situations and problems in this temporal realm. This is Godly Intervention into trials and situations we face, while we're still on this side of life.
We mistakenly overlook the Godly Wisdom for things we're facing, because we're looking for something earth shattering. We sometimes miss the Super-natural, by looking for the spectacular instead. James 1:5-6 (Amplified) instructs, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving 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 oat sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind."
In 2Kings 5:10-13 (Amplified) we read about a man named Naaman, who commanded the army of the King of Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but Naaman was a leper. Verse 10 says, "The leper warrior was sent to Elisha [the prophet] to be cleansed of his leprosy. Elisha told his servant to tell [Naaman] to wash seven times in the Jordan River and he would be cleansed of leprosy." Remember how we sometimes miss the Super-natural things, by looking for the spectacular. Naaman was angry when the servant told him to dip seven times in the Jordan and he would be cleansed. Verses 11-14 go on, "But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out out me and stand and call on the Name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the Leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the Rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away. And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then when he says to you, Wash and be clean?" The Super-natural Wisdom overrode Naaman's desire for the spectacular. Verse 15 tells us, "Then [Naaman] went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean."
We cannot be so quick to believe that a simple answer to our prayers, "Isn't God." Just because it doesn't sound earth shattering, doesn't mean it's not God's Wisdom and His instructions. I encountered a woman who was dying from many different things and couldn't receive nourishment from any source. The Lord told her to "Drink buttermilk." She finally did what He instructed. The acid of the buttermilk reduced the inflammation in her body and other chemicals in the milk stopped the disease. This woman went on to live for another thirty years. Drinking buttermilk doesn't sound Spiritual, but it was God's Wisdom.
Sometimes when God tells us something, we dismiss it, because, "Surely God's instructions would be far greater." After reading how Jesus spit, made mud and put it on the eyes of a blind man, I said, "Lord, that's nasty. Why would you do that, instead of of just laying hands on the man?" His answer was very simple. He said, "If I created man from the elements of the earth, then why is it so hard to think I could make parts from the same substance?" Earth shattering? No, just simple Wisdom from on High.
James 1:8 (Amplified) tells us that, "If you are double-minded, you have lost the Wisdom you ask God for." Being double-minded could be something as simple as saying, "I wonder was that really God" or asking your friend, "Do you think that is God or not?" Your carnal mind is interfering with Spiritual Wisdom and the god of this world is blinding you to the Truth and Wisdom of the Father, even though you're born-again. Let's allow God to be God and give us the Wisdom we need.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Lesson 20 The Church's Identity Crisis
The new creation children of the Most High God, have at our advantage, the Blessing of God's Kingdom that the world doesn't have. We haven't been taught or haven't dared to believe that our Heavenly Father is still able to make "All Grace abound unto us" and have settled to live like the world does. We've been taught that we will "go be with Jesus after we die," but not that Jesus has come to live with us while we're here on earth.
Jesus said that we "Are in this world, but we are not of this world." We have been translated into the Kingdom of God's Son, according to Colossi ans 1:13 (Amplified) which says, "The Father has delivered us 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." God has already done the through Jesus. When we were born-again, we became citizens of Heaven, sons and daughters of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. God considers these things already done.
Every believer reading these teachings, must first acknowledge who you've become when you received Jesus, in order to truly understand them. You weren't only forgiven of your sins, but you were born-again and birthed into a new creation that never existed before in all of God's creation. The Law of Sin and of Death was removed when you received Jesus and you were "translated into a brand new of God's Kingdom," the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus taught His disciples about God and the things on this earth in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified). They were looking at the things on earth they needed and did or didn't have. It appeared as though God wasn't interested in how they lived on earth, when Jesus said to them, "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), AND THEN all these things taken together will be given you besides."
Jesus didn't say, "These things will be given to you when you get to Heaven" and He didn't say that, "God doesn't care about you while you're here on earth." Jesus said, "Seek after God's Righteousness and being made the Righteousness of God, which comes by being in Christ Jesus." Jesus instructed us to "Seek God's way of doing and being right." The Kingdom of Heaven has Spiritual Laws and ways of functioning that cannot be changed or moved once God puts them in place. God ways are Eternal and will never change. God intended us to learn and seek after His way of doing things, because they will work every time.
For instance, we pray for years sometimes, for God to save certain people. We pray, "O God, please save so-and-so. Break them Lord and humble them, until they receive salvation." God has already done all that needs to be done, in order to save the whole world, when He sent Jesus to the cross. John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so Loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever would believe should not perish, but have Everlasting Life." God sent Jesus to the whole world. The Price is paid in Him. Salvation has already been provided. All that's required is that we believe.
Why then, hasn't the person you've been praying for, been saved? Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray The Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the field." Paul writes about the unsaved persons in 2Corinthians 4:4 (Amplified), "For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
Should be pray for laborers into the harvest to save so-and-so and let God send them? God knows who they will listen too, more than you do. God has someone for everyone and He knows who can minister to so-and-so. If we begin to speak Light against the darkness that has blinded their minds, then the Illuminating Light of the Gospel will expel the demonic darkness that has prevented their seeing. Don't try making them into your image, but let God make them into His Image. We have authority over the powers of darkness and all spiritual entities in the heavens, so let's break down the strongholds using the Power of Jesus' Name. Let's loose the angels to minister on the behalf of those we're praying for, using the Power of His Name.
Jesus and the disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, when a storm arose. The boat began taking on water, when they cried out, "Lord, don't You care that we perish?" What a question to ask the One Who Loved us so much that He came to die and go into the pit for us. They asked, "Don't You care? We sometimes do the very same thing, when praying for those we love, who are still unsaved. We pray, "Lord, why don't You do something? Why don't You save them? Don't You care that they perish?"
We're citizens of God's Kingdom and it functions by God's way of doing and being right. We need to learn how God's Kingdom works, instead of trying to get God to function the way this earthly kingdom works. A person from Ireland must learn the laws that govern America, when they arrive in the U.S. One of the first things that person must learn is, that we drive on the opposite side of the road. If you drive here, like you drive in Ireland, then someone will run into you or you'll be ticketed. We're translated into God's Kingdom and must learn how to live by the Laws that govern His Kingdom, by God's Word and the Holy Spirit. God's not going to change His way of doing and being right, in order to satisfy us. We must learn His way of doing and being right. Jesus was taught and learned the Promises and covenant God made with Abraham. He learned how to walk in the Blessing and covenant of the First Adam. Jesus didn't do anything that wasn't available to the First Adam, but He walked in what God had designed to be His way of doing and being right.
Jesus is called the Last Adam, so we see that He walked in the same Blessing, authority, dominion and Word that God to the First Adam. This is the same Blessing that is now on us, by being joint heirs with Jesus. The difference is, that we were never taught, learned or dared to walk it out by faith in God's Promises. It's not always easy. Learning God's ways requires spending time in God's Word and in His Presence. God says in Isaiah 55:8-9 (Amplified), "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
God wasn't speaking from a big ego, but was challenging us to learn His ways and His thoughts. Psalm 25:14 (Amplified) says, "The secret of the sweet satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who fear revere and worship Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its deep inner meaning." There are so many things in God's covenant, that we have no understanding of. Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "And with all you have gotten (which is the Lord Jesus, Who is Everything) get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
"Understanding, discernment, comprehension and interpretation" are Spiritual terms that go beyond man's education. You cannot get Spiritual Revelation or discernment from the world. They only come from God's Word and the Holy Spirit, according to 1Corinthians 2:7-16. For the sake of time, I'm not recording this complete chapter, but I ask that you read and discern it, so you can learn what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Paul writes in Verses 9-10, "But on the contrary, as the scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared, made and keeps ready for those who love Him, who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the Holy Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the Divine Counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny."
The Father wants us to know and understand the secret things of our Redemption, so that we can walk in them. Paul continues in the above chapter, telling us who and what the Father has made of to be while we're still on this side of life. I realize that you love God and want to be pleasing to Him, but "Without faith it's impossible to please God.' Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) says, "The Father wants us to reach into the realm of the Spirit and allow Him to bring His Promises that are still unseen, into this realm of our life in Him."
After being delivered from Egypt and in the Wilderness, twelve spies were sent to spy out the Land God had Promised them. Numbers 13-14 tells us how God took Jericho and had given it into the hands of the Israelites, but they didn't see it with eyes of faith. Ten of the spies saw things with the eyes of fears and the hearts of natural man. Joshua and Caleb saw the Land through God's Spirit. They looked beyond the giants and saw that the Lord is much bigger than any giant. They trusted God, instead of what their natural eyes saw.
Those who didn't enter were covenant people through Abraham. They didn't receive the Promise. Your not reaching into the secret place of God today, doesn't mean that you're not His child. God has things for us on this side of life, but we might not receive them, because we lack faith beyond things we know and see. Many think that believing that, "All things are possible with God," is taking faith too far. I'm still trying to figure out how someone can have too much faith. Thank God that Abraham didn't think believing for a Seed, was hyper faith. Thank God that Mary didn't think that having a child without a man, was too much faith in God. Thank God that Jesus didn't think that believing God could raise Him up from death, was "too much faith."
God isn't done writing the Hall of Faith Fame in Hebrews 11. He's still entering the names of those who went on and are about to reach into the secret and hidden counsels of God,bringing the Power of Almighty God in these Last Days. God is about to reveal Himself in such a way, that it will startle the entire world and He wants to do it through His family.
Ephesians 3;10-11 (Amplified) says, "The purpose is that through the Church the complicated, many sided Wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities, principalities, and power in the heavenly sphere, this is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He realized and carried into effect in the Person of Christ Jesus our Lord."
Jesus said that we "Are in this world, but we are not of this world." We have been translated into the Kingdom of God's Son, according to Colossi ans 1:13 (Amplified) which says, "The Father has delivered us 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." God has already done the through Jesus. When we were born-again, we became citizens of Heaven, sons and daughters of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. God considers these things already done.
Every believer reading these teachings, must first acknowledge who you've become when you received Jesus, in order to truly understand them. You weren't only forgiven of your sins, but you were born-again and birthed into a new creation that never existed before in all of God's creation. The Law of Sin and of Death was removed when you received Jesus and you were "translated into a brand new of God's Kingdom," the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus taught His disciples about God and the things on this earth in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified). They were looking at the things on earth they needed and did or didn't have. It appeared as though God wasn't interested in how they lived on earth, when Jesus said to them, "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), AND THEN all these things taken together will be given you besides."
Jesus didn't say, "These things will be given to you when you get to Heaven" and He didn't say that, "God doesn't care about you while you're here on earth." Jesus said, "Seek after God's Righteousness and being made the Righteousness of God, which comes by being in Christ Jesus." Jesus instructed us to "Seek God's way of doing and being right." The Kingdom of Heaven has Spiritual Laws and ways of functioning that cannot be changed or moved once God puts them in place. God ways are Eternal and will never change. God intended us to learn and seek after His way of doing things, because they will work every time.
For instance, we pray for years sometimes, for God to save certain people. We pray, "O God, please save so-and-so. Break them Lord and humble them, until they receive salvation." God has already done all that needs to be done, in order to save the whole world, when He sent Jesus to the cross. John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so Loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever would believe should not perish, but have Everlasting Life." God sent Jesus to the whole world. The Price is paid in Him. Salvation has already been provided. All that's required is that we believe.
Why then, hasn't the person you've been praying for, been saved? Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, therefore pray The Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the field." Paul writes about the unsaved persons in 2Corinthians 4:4 (Amplified), "For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
Should be pray for laborers into the harvest to save so-and-so and let God send them? God knows who they will listen too, more than you do. God has someone for everyone and He knows who can minister to so-and-so. If we begin to speak Light against the darkness that has blinded their minds, then the Illuminating Light of the Gospel will expel the demonic darkness that has prevented their seeing. Don't try making them into your image, but let God make them into His Image. We have authority over the powers of darkness and all spiritual entities in the heavens, so let's break down the strongholds using the Power of Jesus' Name. Let's loose the angels to minister on the behalf of those we're praying for, using the Power of His Name.
Jesus and the disciples were in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, when a storm arose. The boat began taking on water, when they cried out, "Lord, don't You care that we perish?" What a question to ask the One Who Loved us so much that He came to die and go into the pit for us. They asked, "Don't You care? We sometimes do the very same thing, when praying for those we love, who are still unsaved. We pray, "Lord, why don't You do something? Why don't You save them? Don't You care that they perish?"
We're citizens of God's Kingdom and it functions by God's way of doing and being right. We need to learn how God's Kingdom works, instead of trying to get God to function the way this earthly kingdom works. A person from Ireland must learn the laws that govern America, when they arrive in the U.S. One of the first things that person must learn is, that we drive on the opposite side of the road. If you drive here, like you drive in Ireland, then someone will run into you or you'll be ticketed. We're translated into God's Kingdom and must learn how to live by the Laws that govern His Kingdom, by God's Word and the Holy Spirit. God's not going to change His way of doing and being right, in order to satisfy us. We must learn His way of doing and being right. Jesus was taught and learned the Promises and covenant God made with Abraham. He learned how to walk in the Blessing and covenant of the First Adam. Jesus didn't do anything that wasn't available to the First Adam, but He walked in what God had designed to be His way of doing and being right.
Jesus is called the Last Adam, so we see that He walked in the same Blessing, authority, dominion and Word that God to the First Adam. This is the same Blessing that is now on us, by being joint heirs with Jesus. The difference is, that we were never taught, learned or dared to walk it out by faith in God's Promises. It's not always easy. Learning God's ways requires spending time in God's Word and in His Presence. God says in Isaiah 55:8-9 (Amplified), "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
God wasn't speaking from a big ego, but was challenging us to learn His ways and His thoughts. Psalm 25:14 (Amplified) says, "The secret of the sweet satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who fear revere and worship Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its deep inner meaning." There are so many things in God's covenant, that we have no understanding of. Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "And with all you have gotten (which is the Lord Jesus, Who is Everything) get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
"Understanding, discernment, comprehension and interpretation" are Spiritual terms that go beyond man's education. You cannot get Spiritual Revelation or discernment from the world. They only come from God's Word and the Holy Spirit, according to 1Corinthians 2:7-16. For the sake of time, I'm not recording this complete chapter, but I ask that you read and discern it, so you can learn what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. Paul writes in Verses 9-10, "But on the contrary, as the scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared, made and keeps ready for those who love Him, who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the Holy Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the Divine Counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny."
The Father wants us to know and understand the secret things of our Redemption, so that we can walk in them. Paul continues in the above chapter, telling us who and what the Father has made of to be while we're still on this side of life. I realize that you love God and want to be pleasing to Him, but "Without faith it's impossible to please God.' Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) says, "The Father wants us to reach into the realm of the Spirit and allow Him to bring His Promises that are still unseen, into this realm of our life in Him."
After being delivered from Egypt and in the Wilderness, twelve spies were sent to spy out the Land God had Promised them. Numbers 13-14 tells us how God took Jericho and had given it into the hands of the Israelites, but they didn't see it with eyes of faith. Ten of the spies saw things with the eyes of fears and the hearts of natural man. Joshua and Caleb saw the Land through God's Spirit. They looked beyond the giants and saw that the Lord is much bigger than any giant. They trusted God, instead of what their natural eyes saw.
Those who didn't enter were covenant people through Abraham. They didn't receive the Promise. Your not reaching into the secret place of God today, doesn't mean that you're not His child. God has things for us on this side of life, but we might not receive them, because we lack faith beyond things we know and see. Many think that believing that, "All things are possible with God," is taking faith too far. I'm still trying to figure out how someone can have too much faith. Thank God that Abraham didn't think believing for a Seed, was hyper faith. Thank God that Mary didn't think that having a child without a man, was too much faith in God. Thank God that Jesus didn't think that believing God could raise Him up from death, was "too much faith."
God isn't done writing the Hall of Faith Fame in Hebrews 11. He's still entering the names of those who went on and are about to reach into the secret and hidden counsels of God,bringing the Power of Almighty God in these Last Days. God is about to reveal Himself in such a way, that it will startle the entire world and He wants to do it through His family.
Ephesians 3;10-11 (Amplified) says, "The purpose is that through the Church the complicated, many sided Wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities, principalities, and power in the heavenly sphere, this is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He realized and carried into effect in the Person of Christ Jesus our Lord."
Monday, June 1, 2020
Lesson 19 The Church's Identity Crisis
I've finally found understanding and confidence about the favor and Grace God's made available to His covenant family, by seeking Him. Those under the first covenant God made with Abraham, the people could depend upon it faith, when they needed it. Exodus 2:23-25 (Amplified) says, "However, after a long time (nearly forty years), the king of Egypt died; and the Israelites were sighing and groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying and their cry because of slavery, ascended to God. And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them and concerned Himself about them; knowing all (understanding, remembering all)."
God didn't come to them, because He heard them crying, but because He remembered His covenant with Abraham. People around the world today are crying and God hears their cries and cares about them. He moves though, because of the covenant He made with Jesus. When you make covenant with God through Jesus, then He moves on your behalf because of His commitment to Jesus. God declared us as being righteous, but it's not our righteousness. God remembers His covenant with Jesus, Who is the Seed of Abraham.
We fail to understand sometimes, what the Blood covenant through Jesus, has done in and for us today. The Curse is keeping millions on earth today, under bondage. Does God hear and care? Of course He does! God sent His Only Son Jesus to bring them into covenant and has opened the doorway for Him to enter into their lives. Jesus said 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 find pasture."
Jesus is the Door by which we enter into the covenant and Jesus is the Door by which the Father moves in our lives. God has offered this Door to all who will believe and He's willing and able to make "All Grace abound to us through Christ Jesus," but we must enter through the Door. God has made Himself available to all who will accept His covenant and allow Him to move in their lives through the Blood. If you make covenant or sign a contract with an insurance company to cover yourself and your home from storms or fire, then when a storm or fire comes to destroy your home, along with houses down the street, your house will be covered under that contract. The other homes won't be covered though, because they don't have a policy with the insurance company. It's not that the insurance company doesn't see or care about those homes, but they don't repair those home, because they don't have a policy with the homeowners.
The insurance company made themselves available to everyone, but they're only obligated to cover those who had covenant with them. They will help anyone who has signed and accepted the terms of a covenant. John 3:16 (Amplified) tell us that, "God so Loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe should not perish, but have Everlasting Life." We entered into covenant with God and He entered covenant with us, when we received Jesus as our Lord. Those who haven't believed, haven't accepted the terms of covenant and have excluded themselves from obligation to the covenant.
We are aware of what our insurance policy or covenant covers. If you don't know what is covered, then you don't ask or receive the coverage. Jesus is God's insurance policy and He covers all that we need. Many have forgotten the policy and only try making payments, so it's effective. They don't know that it covers healing, deliverance, peace, the Holy Spirit, mercy, Grace, faith, Wisdom, consecration, sanctification, rights and privileges, so they don't bother seeking these things.
The policy we've received through Jesus, says, "Ask and you shall receive," "Call upon Me and I will supply all your needs," "Everything the Father has are yours" and "I will send My angels to watch over you and no evil shall befall you and no plague come nigh thy dwelling." There is so much more though, that's available to us through our Blood Covenant coverage.
I believed the truck I was driving was fully covered, when a rock fell and broke the windshield. Much to my surprise, this damage wasn't covered. I should have read my policy more closely, so I'd know my windshield wasn't covered. If we read our covenant policy the Lord made with us through Jesus, the we'd know we're covered for many things, but we haven't asked for them, because we didn't read the contract.
We sometimes allow others to convince us that the Blood covenant doesn't cover or provide things for us, so we don't make a claim on our policy. Did you know that your covenant (policy) still covers sickness and disease? You can call upon and make a claim to your covenant with God and He will back up His end of the covenant.
I know this is a Parable, but I'm using natural things to reveal Spiritual things. I know God doesn't have a policy, but a covenant. The same principals apply. If we don't understand our part of the covenant and make our part of it clear in faith in Him, then even He will not move. God's Grace has already provided all we will ever need, but we must activate His Grace by faith. Ephesians 2 tells us that, "By Grace are you saved through faith." Grace has made salvation available to all persons, but it must be accepted and activated in our lives by faith, otherwise it won't come into effect in our lives. Let's activate our covenant by faith in what God's Awesome Grace has provided for us, in Jesus Christ.
God didn't come to them, because He heard them crying, but because He remembered His covenant with Abraham. People around the world today are crying and God hears their cries and cares about them. He moves though, because of the covenant He made with Jesus. When you make covenant with God through Jesus, then He moves on your behalf because of His commitment to Jesus. God declared us as being righteous, but it's not our righteousness. God remembers His covenant with Jesus, Who is the Seed of Abraham.
We fail to understand sometimes, what the Blood covenant through Jesus, has done in and for us today. The Curse is keeping millions on earth today, under bondage. Does God hear and care? Of course He does! God sent His Only Son Jesus to bring them into covenant and has opened the doorway for Him to enter into their lives. Jesus said 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 find pasture."
Jesus is the Door by which we enter into the covenant and Jesus is the Door by which the Father moves in our lives. God has offered this Door to all who will believe and He's willing and able to make "All Grace abound to us through Christ Jesus," but we must enter through the Door. God has made Himself available to all who will accept His covenant and allow Him to move in their lives through the Blood. If you make covenant or sign a contract with an insurance company to cover yourself and your home from storms or fire, then when a storm or fire comes to destroy your home, along with houses down the street, your house will be covered under that contract. The other homes won't be covered though, because they don't have a policy with the insurance company. It's not that the insurance company doesn't see or care about those homes, but they don't repair those home, because they don't have a policy with the homeowners.
The insurance company made themselves available to everyone, but they're only obligated to cover those who had covenant with them. They will help anyone who has signed and accepted the terms of a covenant. John 3:16 (Amplified) tell us that, "God so Loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe should not perish, but have Everlasting Life." We entered into covenant with God and He entered covenant with us, when we received Jesus as our Lord. Those who haven't believed, haven't accepted the terms of covenant and have excluded themselves from obligation to the covenant.
We are aware of what our insurance policy or covenant covers. If you don't know what is covered, then you don't ask or receive the coverage. Jesus is God's insurance policy and He covers all that we need. Many have forgotten the policy and only try making payments, so it's effective. They don't know that it covers healing, deliverance, peace, the Holy Spirit, mercy, Grace, faith, Wisdom, consecration, sanctification, rights and privileges, so they don't bother seeking these things.
The policy we've received through Jesus, says, "Ask and you shall receive," "Call upon Me and I will supply all your needs," "Everything the Father has are yours" and "I will send My angels to watch over you and no evil shall befall you and no plague come nigh thy dwelling." There is so much more though, that's available to us through our Blood Covenant coverage.
I believed the truck I was driving was fully covered, when a rock fell and broke the windshield. Much to my surprise, this damage wasn't covered. I should have read my policy more closely, so I'd know my windshield wasn't covered. If we read our covenant policy the Lord made with us through Jesus, the we'd know we're covered for many things, but we haven't asked for them, because we didn't read the contract.
We sometimes allow others to convince us that the Blood covenant doesn't cover or provide things for us, so we don't make a claim on our policy. Did you know that your covenant (policy) still covers sickness and disease? You can call upon and make a claim to your covenant with God and He will back up His end of the covenant.
I know this is a Parable, but I'm using natural things to reveal Spiritual things. I know God doesn't have a policy, but a covenant. The same principals apply. If we don't understand our part of the covenant and make our part of it clear in faith in Him, then even He will not move. God's Grace has already provided all we will ever need, but we must activate His Grace by faith. Ephesians 2 tells us that, "By Grace are you saved through faith." Grace has made salvation available to all persons, but it must be accepted and activated in our lives by faith, otherwise it won't come into effect in our lives. Let's activate our covenant by faith in what God's Awesome Grace has provided for us, in Jesus Christ.
Friday, May 29, 2020
Lesson 18 The Church's Identity Crisis
God tells us in Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified), "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom, skillful and Godly Wisdom! For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
So many things that skillful and Godly Wisdom have delivered to us have been lost, because of the lack of understanding. Understanding Wisdom comes from Revelation knowledge and Spiritual discernment. The Word of God is Wisdom and God has made Jesus to be our Wisdom, according to 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified), which says, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy; and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
Included in our salvation through Jesus, we also received our Wisdom, our Consecration, our Righteousness, and our Redemption. Most of the Truth of this has been lost to the Church, because of a lack of understanding the Truth of God's Word. We still struggle believing we've been made righteous through Jesus' Righteousness and we have little faith that we've been consecrated and are pure and holy in God's eyes. Some believe it's blasphemous to think this way. Proverbs 4:7 tells us that understanding it "discernment, comprehensive insight and interpretation. These are Spiritual terms for understanding and come from Revelation by the Holy Spirit. We can read this scripture and understand it by our educated minds, but this doesn't bring understanding from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 and said, "They have ears, but don't hear and have eyes, but don't see." They could hear what Jesus was saying, but had no understanding of the Spiritual application of what He said. Today's Church has lost so much, because we don't understand by Wisdom. If we preach beyond going to Heaven when we die, then we're still met with the same lack of understanding, that those who heard Jesus preach had.
1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us that, "Salvation" is the "Revelation manifested by God's Divine Plan, where Jesus "made us right with God and gave us the right to come before God and in His Presence, because Jesus became our Righteousness." It also tells us that, "Jesus was our Consecration and made us pure and holy" and that "Jesus was our Redemption, redeeming us from the Curse that came on us by Adam's transgression." We've been brought back into God's family and His Blessing, through the Seed of Abraham, Who is Jesus Christ. The benefits of God's Grace are lost to the Church, without Spiritual insight or Revelation knowledge and understanding.
The Church has failed to accept and believe the fullness of what Jesus completed at Calvary, because the enemy has clouded our true identity in Christ Jesus. Every believer in the Body of Christ, has received son-ship rights, being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Jesus didn't go to Calvary's cross for Himself. Jesus always has been the Word of God, the Son of God, the Righteousness of God, pure and holy before God, separated from the Curse, superior over satan and never under satan's authority. Jesus did everything He did, in order to bring us back into the Position He has with the Father, including the filling of the Holy Spirit and having God's Love abounding in our our hearts.
Jesus did all of this for us and not Himself. When we deny what Jesus did and fail to partake in it, then we're denying God's Love that brought Jesus to the cross for us. God's Grace and mercy has made made them available to us. None of the benefits Jesus brought to us, can be brought into our lives, without God's Grace, according to Psalm 103:1-5 (Amplified) which says, "Bless (Affectionately, gratefully), praise the Lord, O my soul; and all that is deepest within me, Bless His Holy Name. Bless (Affectionately, gratefully), praise the Lord O my soul and forget no one of His Benefits, (do not forget) Who forgives everyone of all your iniquities, Who heals each one of all your diseases, Who Redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with Loving Kindness and tender mercy Who satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation with Good so that your youth renewed is like the eagle, strong, overcoming and soaring."
We're instructed first of all to "Forget not one of all His Benefits." We weren't supposed to get caught up in the world's ideas or carnal teachings that say, "God doesn't do these things anymore" or that believing these things is, "Taking advantage of our relationship with God." God has given these Benefits by His Grace and His Love, so we can enjoy them and be thankful to Him. We receive these Blessings and Gifts by faith in God's Word and His covenant.
Who forgives every one of my iniquities? Who heals each one of my diseases and redeems my life from the pit and corruption? Who beautifies, dignifies and crowns me with Loving Kindness and tender mercy? Who satisfies my mouth, my necessities and desires at my personal age and situation with Good, so that my mouth is renewed like the eagle, staying strong, overcoming and soaring? All these Benefits are God's Promise and come to us in Jesus. God's Promises and Blessings include more than these.
We don't confess that Jesus was made our Righteousness, our Consecration, our Sanctification and our Redemption and that we're pure and holy in God's eyes, in conversation with others. We're to know and see ourselves the way God sees us. We're not to forget any of His Benefits. Christians have been taught for so long that, "None are righteous," causing us to see ourselves after the world and the ideas of carnal men/women, instead of how God's Word portrays us. We're not supposed to go around saying, "I'm righteous, pure, holy and sanctified to others, but we're not to go around saying, "I'm an unworthy, unrighteous old sinner." Jesus never made it a point to tell others Who He was, unless it was to declare His ministry to them. Paul never beat his chest, telling everyone about his own righteousness. Neither did he refer to himself in the past tense, unless he was placed in a position by them to do so. Even then, Paul said, "It was speaking like a fool, to refer to his own righteousness" and that, "By the Grace of God I am what I am and I magnify my office." Paul writes 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, or 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. 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."
It's paramount that we know who we are in Jesus, so that we can have confidence in our prayers being heard and so we can receive what the Father desires for us. Anyone would know that if you're not right with God, then there are very little chances of our prayers being answered. 1John 3:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Whenever our hearts in tormenting self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemns us, For we are in God's hands. For He is Above and Greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows, perceives and understands everything, nothing is hidden from Him. And beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us), we have confidence, complete assurance and boldness before God. Because of this we receive from Him whatever we ask."
When we know, understand, perceive, discern, and interpret God's Wisdom and apply it, then we can overcome our past and live in the "Now Faith that is the substance of things hoped for," in Hebrews 1:1. It's difficult to have faith that God's hears and answers our prayers, when the enemy constantly reminds us about our failures and things we did before receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must understand who we are in Christ Jesus, so that we came come boldly before God's Throne of Gracce.
So many things that skillful and Godly Wisdom have delivered to us have been lost, because of the lack of understanding. Understanding Wisdom comes from Revelation knowledge and Spiritual discernment. The Word of God is Wisdom and God has made Jesus to be our Wisdom, according to 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified), which says, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy; and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
Included in our salvation through Jesus, we also received our Wisdom, our Consecration, our Righteousness, and our Redemption. Most of the Truth of this has been lost to the Church, because of a lack of understanding the Truth of God's Word. We still struggle believing we've been made righteous through Jesus' Righteousness and we have little faith that we've been consecrated and are pure and holy in God's eyes. Some believe it's blasphemous to think this way. Proverbs 4:7 tells us that understanding it "discernment, comprehensive insight and interpretation. These are Spiritual terms for understanding and come from Revelation by the Holy Spirit. We can read this scripture and understand it by our educated minds, but this doesn't bring understanding from the Holy Spirit.
Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 and said, "They have ears, but don't hear and have eyes, but don't see." They could hear what Jesus was saying, but had no understanding of the Spiritual application of what He said. Today's Church has lost so much, because we don't understand by Wisdom. If we preach beyond going to Heaven when we die, then we're still met with the same lack of understanding, that those who heard Jesus preach had.
1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us that, "Salvation" is the "Revelation manifested by God's Divine Plan, where Jesus "made us right with God and gave us the right to come before God and in His Presence, because Jesus became our Righteousness." It also tells us that, "Jesus was our Consecration and made us pure and holy" and that "Jesus was our Redemption, redeeming us from the Curse that came on us by Adam's transgression." We've been brought back into God's family and His Blessing, through the Seed of Abraham, Who is Jesus Christ. The benefits of God's Grace are lost to the Church, without Spiritual insight or Revelation knowledge and understanding.
The Church has failed to accept and believe the fullness of what Jesus completed at Calvary, because the enemy has clouded our true identity in Christ Jesus. Every believer in the Body of Christ, has received son-ship rights, being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. Jesus didn't go to Calvary's cross for Himself. Jesus always has been the Word of God, the Son of God, the Righteousness of God, pure and holy before God, separated from the Curse, superior over satan and never under satan's authority. Jesus did everything He did, in order to bring us back into the Position He has with the Father, including the filling of the Holy Spirit and having God's Love abounding in our our hearts.
Jesus did all of this for us and not Himself. When we deny what Jesus did and fail to partake in it, then we're denying God's Love that brought Jesus to the cross for us. God's Grace and mercy has made made them available to us. None of the benefits Jesus brought to us, can be brought into our lives, without God's Grace, according to Psalm 103:1-5 (Amplified) which says, "Bless (Affectionately, gratefully), praise the Lord, O my soul; and all that is deepest within me, Bless His Holy Name. Bless (Affectionately, gratefully), praise the Lord O my soul and forget no one of His Benefits, (do not forget) Who forgives everyone of all your iniquities, Who heals each one of all your diseases, Who Redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with Loving Kindness and tender mercy Who satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation with Good so that your youth renewed is like the eagle, strong, overcoming and soaring."
We're instructed first of all to "Forget not one of all His Benefits." We weren't supposed to get caught up in the world's ideas or carnal teachings that say, "God doesn't do these things anymore" or that believing these things is, "Taking advantage of our relationship with God." God has given these Benefits by His Grace and His Love, so we can enjoy them and be thankful to Him. We receive these Blessings and Gifts by faith in God's Word and His covenant.
Who forgives every one of my iniquities? Who heals each one of my diseases and redeems my life from the pit and corruption? Who beautifies, dignifies and crowns me with Loving Kindness and tender mercy? Who satisfies my mouth, my necessities and desires at my personal age and situation with Good, so that my mouth is renewed like the eagle, staying strong, overcoming and soaring? All these Benefits are God's Promise and come to us in Jesus. God's Promises and Blessings include more than these.
We don't confess that Jesus was made our Righteousness, our Consecration, our Sanctification and our Redemption and that we're pure and holy in God's eyes, in conversation with others. We're to know and see ourselves the way God sees us. We're not to forget any of His Benefits. Christians have been taught for so long that, "None are righteous," causing us to see ourselves after the world and the ideas of carnal men/women, instead of how God's Word portrays us. We're not supposed to go around saying, "I'm righteous, pure, holy and sanctified to others, but we're not to go around saying, "I'm an unworthy, unrighteous old sinner." Jesus never made it a point to tell others Who He was, unless it was to declare His ministry to them. Paul never beat his chest, telling everyone about his own righteousness. Neither did he refer to himself in the past tense, unless he was placed in a position by them to do so. Even then, Paul said, "It was speaking like a fool, to refer to his own righteousness" and that, "By the Grace of God I am what I am and I magnify my office." Paul writes 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, or 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. 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."
It's paramount that we know who we are in Jesus, so that we can have confidence in our prayers being heard and so we can receive what the Father desires for us. Anyone would know that if you're not right with God, then there are very little chances of our prayers being answered. 1John 3:20-21 (Amplified) says, "Whenever our hearts in tormenting self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemns us, For we are in God's hands. For He is Above and Greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows, perceives and understands everything, nothing is hidden from Him. And beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us), we have confidence, complete assurance and boldness before God. Because of this we receive from Him whatever we ask."
When we know, understand, perceive, discern, and interpret God's Wisdom and apply it, then we can overcome our past and live in the "Now Faith that is the substance of things hoped for," in Hebrews 1:1. It's difficult to have faith that God's hears and answers our prayers, when the enemy constantly reminds us about our failures and things we did before receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must understand who we are in Christ Jesus, so that we came come boldly before God's Throne of Gracce.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Lesson 17 The Church's Identity Crisis
Religion has caused God's Church to lose sight of Who He has created us to be, by making us look on the negative. Instead of seeing Paul's success in proclaiming the Gospel in the face of great persecution and seeing the victory over hardship, we've been taught to only focus on the hardship. The Apostle Paul was the only enemy satan had at that time, who knew the Truth of the new creation Jesus had brought into being. If satan could silence Paul and prevent him from spreading the Revelation he received from Jesus, then the Church would never know who Jesus had made us to be.
No man was righteous under the Law, because Jesus hadn't come yet. The idea of unrighteousness has continued to keep today's Church without confidence in God's hearing and answering our prayers. Paul preached about "being made righteous in Jesus," which caused God's Church to pray with confident expectancy. This change made it possible for God to move in the early Church and the cities around it. The Church had tried mixing the new covenant with the Law. They continued sacrificial rituals in order to please God, until Paul received the Revelation from the Lord and taught them the Truth of the new covenant.
Paul taught about the new creation and how we're no longer servants under the Law, but are sons and daughter in God's family. Paul taught believers that we are now God's children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Paul later wrote in Hebrews 4:16, that we have the privilege of "Coming boldly into God's Presence and before His Throne of Grace, as His family, without sacrifice or shame, to receive Grace and mercy anytime we need it" (which really is all the time).
In Paul's letter to the Church in Corinth, we learn that, "Our bodies have become the temple of God" and that God no longer abides in a building, but in His people. Paul taught about our being raised together with Jesus and seated together with Him in Heavenly places and about our having the authority over spirits in high places through the Name of Jesus.
None of these things were known to the Church, until Paul received the Revelation from God. Satan has clouded this awesome Revelation and blinded the eyes of the Church, causing us to believe God still deals with us like He did with the old covenant people. We've been deceived into thinking God teaches His Church by disease, plagues and hardship, instead of with His Word, His Holy Spirit and the five-fold ministry. We've been deceived into believing that "only certain people are anointed and hear from God," instead of knowing that God's sheep hear His Voice.
1John 3:2 (Amplified) tells us, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is." I don't know what we will look like after we're fully in His Presence, but this natural body will be put aside and our glorified bodies will be manifested in full. Elijah and Moses seemingly looked much like they did while on earth, when they appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, so we'll still know one another and our family members. We've lived much more by our flesh and senses or carnal minds and bodies, instead of our new creation spirit. We've never learned to walk in and by our born-again spirit.
We've been taught by carnal minded men and women throughout the centuries, which have pushed us into rituals and traditions and the enemy's deceptions. We've been taught that "being Spiritual," means we stop drinking and swearing and start going to church. We've been taught that most of the Spiritual things of God are for when we die and go to Heaven. We see God's Power illustrated in His Word, but not so much in His Church on earth.
John is writing to believers in the Lord and not just to those in the five-fold ministry in the above scripture. His writings are still true for us today. This isn't to say that we don't need teachers, but Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11, that, "Teachers are Gifts unto men by the Holy Spirit." Paul tells us that all who are born-again have the right standing with God and have the Holy Spirit Who will expound and reveal things to us, on an individual basis. 1John 2:27 (Amplified) says, "But as for you, the anointing, the sacred appointment, the unction, which you received from Him, abides permanently in you: so then, you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just 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."
This is a personal invitation to "Come boldly to the Throne of God's Grace" for yourself. You must seek God's Word and listen to His Holy Spirit, instead of relying on the opinions and teachings of others. Several years ago, I preached a sermon titled, "How Far Is Too Far," about how many things I learned from others, didn't settle right in my spirit. I refused to stay at the level of faith that those people stayed at and went on in my personal quest for God and His Truth. At every step I took into the deeper Truth of God's Word, I heard others say, "You've gone too far." Some believed that speaking in tongues was "too far," while others thought that laying hands on the sick was "too far.' Every time I drew closer to God, others would be right there saying, "You've gone too far," to where I began wondering, "How far is too far?"
I discovered that those on Faith's Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11, were those who were told by everyone that they had gone too far. God didn't tell them that though. Not many are listed in this chapter, but they were those who set their hearts on God and His Word. They simply believed that if God said it, then He could and would do it. Caleb and Joshua were the only two out of nearly two million people in the Wilderness, who believed God would do what He said. They all worshiped the Same God, but only those two entered into God's Promised Land. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) tells us, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God."
Just because others don't believe, doesn't mean you must settle for their faith. You can go before God for yourself and the Holy Spirit (the anointing) will lead you to a deeper walk with Him. Your Father created all things and is still the One Who decides how far is too far. He will show you and teach you His Truth, no matter how many oppose you. I'm not talking about being foolish and trying to create your own thing, but don't stop because others say, "We can't take the Land" and stay in the wilderness. Believe God and you will never be disappointed. Like Jesus, Paul, Peter and John, you will suffer persecution, but it's worth it!
The cry of Paul's heart was to know Jesus and the Power of His Resurrection. Other than Jesus Himself, this man probably suffered more persecution than any other person, but he never stopped. The Jews who refused Jesus, refused Paul, so he went into the Gentile nations. Thank God he did. Satan tried everything to shut Paul up, but he refused to be silent. Most of the Revelation we now have, came through this one man who fell in love with Jesus and wouldn't stop preaching. We've centered on Paul's persecution, instead of identifying with the Truth Jesus gave him. If you wish to identify with the persecution, instead of the Truth, then there's no need for persecution from the enemy, because you're harmless to his kingdom of darkness. Hearing that the Spiritual things of God have "passed away," has never brought persecution to anyone. It just pleased the people and left God's Church helpless.
We're not called to fight the devil, because he's already been defeated. We're called to, "Fight the Good fight of faith." Having faith in God's Promises will be a fight, but we have the God kind of faith and are overcomers. Every time you step out into the arena of faith, the enemy will try to put you back into your place, because you've become a danger to his kingdom.
Without faith in the Super-natural things of God, we're just another religion to the devil. Satan can't prevent unsaved persons from being born-again and led into salvation, but he can try keeping them from become mature Christians and being a problem for him. We only have to believe that God will do the things He said He will do and that's all. We must allow God's Word and His Holy Spirit to teach and lead us. Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus said in John 16:13 (Amplified), "But when He (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit), comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole Truth, full Truth). For He will not speak His Own Message on His Own authority, but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father; He will the Message that has been given to Him and He will announce and declare to you, the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
No man was righteous under the Law, because Jesus hadn't come yet. The idea of unrighteousness has continued to keep today's Church without confidence in God's hearing and answering our prayers. Paul preached about "being made righteous in Jesus," which caused God's Church to pray with confident expectancy. This change made it possible for God to move in the early Church and the cities around it. The Church had tried mixing the new covenant with the Law. They continued sacrificial rituals in order to please God, until Paul received the Revelation from the Lord and taught them the Truth of the new covenant.
Paul taught about the new creation and how we're no longer servants under the Law, but are sons and daughter in God's family. Paul taught believers that we are now God's children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Paul later wrote in Hebrews 4:16, that we have the privilege of "Coming boldly into God's Presence and before His Throne of Grace, as His family, without sacrifice or shame, to receive Grace and mercy anytime we need it" (which really is all the time).
In Paul's letter to the Church in Corinth, we learn that, "Our bodies have become the temple of God" and that God no longer abides in a building, but in His people. Paul taught about our being raised together with Jesus and seated together with Him in Heavenly places and about our having the authority over spirits in high places through the Name of Jesus.
None of these things were known to the Church, until Paul received the Revelation from God. Satan has clouded this awesome Revelation and blinded the eyes of the Church, causing us to believe God still deals with us like He did with the old covenant people. We've been deceived into thinking God teaches His Church by disease, plagues and hardship, instead of with His Word, His Holy Spirit and the five-fold ministry. We've been deceived into believing that "only certain people are anointed and hear from God," instead of knowing that God's sheep hear His Voice.
1John 3:2 (Amplified) tells us, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is." I don't know what we will look like after we're fully in His Presence, but this natural body will be put aside and our glorified bodies will be manifested in full. Elijah and Moses seemingly looked much like they did while on earth, when they appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, so we'll still know one another and our family members. We've lived much more by our flesh and senses or carnal minds and bodies, instead of our new creation spirit. We've never learned to walk in and by our born-again spirit.
We've been taught by carnal minded men and women throughout the centuries, which have pushed us into rituals and traditions and the enemy's deceptions. We've been taught that "being Spiritual," means we stop drinking and swearing and start going to church. We've been taught that most of the Spiritual things of God are for when we die and go to Heaven. We see God's Power illustrated in His Word, but not so much in His Church on earth.
John is writing to believers in the Lord and not just to those in the five-fold ministry in the above scripture. His writings are still true for us today. This isn't to say that we don't need teachers, but Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11, that, "Teachers are Gifts unto men by the Holy Spirit." Paul tells us that all who are born-again have the right standing with God and have the Holy Spirit Who will expound and reveal things to us, on an individual basis. 1John 2:27 (Amplified) says, "But as for you, the anointing, the sacred appointment, the unction, which you received from Him, abides permanently in you: so then, you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just 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."
This is a personal invitation to "Come boldly to the Throne of God's Grace" for yourself. You must seek God's Word and listen to His Holy Spirit, instead of relying on the opinions and teachings of others. Several years ago, I preached a sermon titled, "How Far Is Too Far," about how many things I learned from others, didn't settle right in my spirit. I refused to stay at the level of faith that those people stayed at and went on in my personal quest for God and His Truth. At every step I took into the deeper Truth of God's Word, I heard others say, "You've gone too far." Some believed that speaking in tongues was "too far," while others thought that laying hands on the sick was "too far.' Every time I drew closer to God, others would be right there saying, "You've gone too far," to where I began wondering, "How far is too far?"
I discovered that those on Faith's Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11, were those who were told by everyone that they had gone too far. God didn't tell them that though. Not many are listed in this chapter, but they were those who set their hearts on God and His Word. They simply believed that if God said it, then He could and would do it. Caleb and Joshua were the only two out of nearly two million people in the Wilderness, who believed God would do what He said. They all worshiped the Same God, but only those two entered into God's Promised Land. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) tells us, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God."
Just because others don't believe, doesn't mean you must settle for their faith. You can go before God for yourself and the Holy Spirit (the anointing) will lead you to a deeper walk with Him. Your Father created all things and is still the One Who decides how far is too far. He will show you and teach you His Truth, no matter how many oppose you. I'm not talking about being foolish and trying to create your own thing, but don't stop because others say, "We can't take the Land" and stay in the wilderness. Believe God and you will never be disappointed. Like Jesus, Paul, Peter and John, you will suffer persecution, but it's worth it!
The cry of Paul's heart was to know Jesus and the Power of His Resurrection. Other than Jesus Himself, this man probably suffered more persecution than any other person, but he never stopped. The Jews who refused Jesus, refused Paul, so he went into the Gentile nations. Thank God he did. Satan tried everything to shut Paul up, but he refused to be silent. Most of the Revelation we now have, came through this one man who fell in love with Jesus and wouldn't stop preaching. We've centered on Paul's persecution, instead of identifying with the Truth Jesus gave him. If you wish to identify with the persecution, instead of the Truth, then there's no need for persecution from the enemy, because you're harmless to his kingdom of darkness. Hearing that the Spiritual things of God have "passed away," has never brought persecution to anyone. It just pleased the people and left God's Church helpless.
We're not called to fight the devil, because he's already been defeated. We're called to, "Fight the Good fight of faith." Having faith in God's Promises will be a fight, but we have the God kind of faith and are overcomers. Every time you step out into the arena of faith, the enemy will try to put you back into your place, because you've become a danger to his kingdom.
Without faith in the Super-natural things of God, we're just another religion to the devil. Satan can't prevent unsaved persons from being born-again and led into salvation, but he can try keeping them from become mature Christians and being a problem for him. We only have to believe that God will do the things He said He will do and that's all. We must allow God's Word and His Holy Spirit to teach and lead us. Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus said in John 16:13 (Amplified), "But when He (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit), comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole Truth, full Truth). For He will not speak His Own Message on His Own authority, but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father; He will the Message that has been given to Him and He will announce and declare to you, the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Lesson 16 The Church's Identity Crisis
Believers have lost sight of who we are in God through Jesus, over the years. We've been from the world and not from God's Word, with such teachings as, we are "nothing" and are "worthless" and of "no value to God." We're afraid of being seen as prideful in religious circles, so we've established a false humility in our relationship with God. If someone in the world shouted to you, "You're worthless and unrighteous," then would you become offended or even angry with that person?
We were unrighteous, before we were born-again as God's children. We were of little value without God, according to Ephesians 2:12,13 (Amplified), where Paul writes, "Remember, that you were at that time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part in Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise, with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements (His covenants). And you had no hope, no promise; you were in the world without God."
Paul goes on in Verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away though, by and in, by the Blood of Christ have been brought near." God never saw us as being "worthless" or "useless," even before we were born-again. God considered us to be important enough that, "He sent His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him, should never perish, but would have Eternal Life," according to John 3:16.
God never thought of you, the way the world and the enemy would try portraying you. We were separated from God, by Adam's transgression in the Garden and we were no longer in right standing or righteous with God. But, we were still precious enough to God, that He sent Jesus to restore us into His Own Righteousness and make us in right standing with Him again. As fallen men and women, our own righteousness was "as filthy rags" to Him, but God didn't leave us in our own righteousness.
When mankind was in a place where God could use us or consider us as righteous, God sent His Only Son to make us Righteous in His Righteousness and make us able to be used for His Kingdom. Some might wonder why this change of heart is so important to the believe. Let's read what the Holy Spirit inspired James to write in James 5:16 (Amplified), "Confess to one another therefore your faults, slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins, and pray also for one another, that you may be healed and restored to a Spiritual tone of mind and heart. The earnest heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available dynamic in its working." James continues telling how Elijah prayed and stopped the rain for 31/2 years and then he prayed for it to return. James tells us that Elijah was a man with the same faults and weaknesses of his flesh, that we still experience.
God requires righteousness, in order to stand in His Presence and to be accepted by Him. Our righteousness could never qualify us to do these things, so God gave us His Own Righteousness, when we received Jesus. We don't approach God in our own righteousness, but the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. This is a Truth in God, that must be accepted by faith in God's Word and in the Finished Work of Christ. If we don't understand this Truth, then we will have little confidence that our prayers will be heard or answered. James tells us that our prayers should be "dynamic in their working."
Many believers are still more conscious of who we once were, instead of who God has made us to be in Jesus. We're more conscious of our own weaknesses, instead of the Power of His Might. We are righteous before Him in Jesus, but if we don't acknowledge this by faith and walk by the feelings of our flesh, then we won't have confidence in our prayer lives. It's not a matter of "Are you righteous," but do you have faith in Him, to accept this righteousness? If you're born-again, then you've been the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, according to 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified), which says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him, we might become endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of the righteousness of God, what we ought to be approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him by His Goodness."
Whether you "feel" righteous or not, has no bearing on what Jesus has done for you. Jesus made you righteous, whether or not you "feel" righteous. We don't feel like we're righteous, because we still remember who we used to be, instead of accepting who God has made us to be in Jesus. We don't have any confidence in God's hearing or answering our prayers, so we derive lame excuses why our prayers weren't answered. We should have faith, that Jesus made us righteous, acceptable and qualified to have our prayers answered.
John tells us that our hearts will accuse us of our past lives, but we can be calmed by our faith in God's Love for us, in 1John 3:18-23 (Amplified). Verse 23 specifically speaks about our having confidence in God saying, "And this is His order, His command, His injunction: that we should believe in, put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another just as He commanded."
John writes about our hearts condemning and accusing us of our past, which leaves us without confidence that God hears us. Then, in Verse 23, He commands us to stop listening to our condemning hearts and "Believe in, trust in, have faith in, rely on, and adhere to, the Name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)." We are directed to have more faith in God's Son Jesus, instead of our own "tormenting, self-accusation, and guilty condemning fleshly feelings." We are to trust in the Name of Jesus for our righteousness.
God says that "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more." We must have faith in His Word and Trust in His Righteousness, rather than relying on our own feelings and so we will have the dynamic working of prayer in our lives. James 5:6 (Amplified) says, "A condemning heart will never allow faith to work in prayer and accept His Righteousness." WE MUST PUT OUR TRUST IN HIM, instead of our feelings. Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation, no adjudging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Which is dictating to you about your righteousness? The dictates of the flesh or the dictates of the Spirit? The one you listen to, is the one that will lead you. 1John 3:23 commanded us to, "Believe in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)." We're not only to love one another, but we're to believe on Jesus' Name. When we believe on His Name and in His Righteousness, while listening to the dictates of the Spirit, we can stop a condemning heart and the dictates of the flesh.
Our feelings aren't greater than God's Grace and Truth. We must understand that our carnal mind is still an enemy of Spiritual things, so we must renew our minds by God's Word and faith in Jesus' Name. Romans 8:7 (Amplified) says, "The mind of the flesh with its carnal thoughts and purposes, in hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot."
We were unrighteous, before we were born-again as God's children. We were of little value without God, according to Ephesians 2:12,13 (Amplified), where Paul writes, "Remember, that you were at that time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part in Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise, with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements (His covenants). And you had no hope, no promise; you were in the world without God."
Paul goes on in Verse 13, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away though, by and in, by the Blood of Christ have been brought near." God never saw us as being "worthless" or "useless," even before we were born-again. God considered us to be important enough that, "He sent His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him, should never perish, but would have Eternal Life," according to John 3:16.
God never thought of you, the way the world and the enemy would try portraying you. We were separated from God, by Adam's transgression in the Garden and we were no longer in right standing or righteous with God. But, we were still precious enough to God, that He sent Jesus to restore us into His Own Righteousness and make us in right standing with Him again. As fallen men and women, our own righteousness was "as filthy rags" to Him, but God didn't leave us in our own righteousness.
When mankind was in a place where God could use us or consider us as righteous, God sent His Only Son to make us Righteous in His Righteousness and make us able to be used for His Kingdom. Some might wonder why this change of heart is so important to the believe. Let's read what the Holy Spirit inspired James to write in James 5:16 (Amplified), "Confess to one another therefore your faults, slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins, and pray also for one another, that you may be healed and restored to a Spiritual tone of mind and heart. The earnest heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available dynamic in its working." James continues telling how Elijah prayed and stopped the rain for 31/2 years and then he prayed for it to return. James tells us that Elijah was a man with the same faults and weaknesses of his flesh, that we still experience.
God requires righteousness, in order to stand in His Presence and to be accepted by Him. Our righteousness could never qualify us to do these things, so God gave us His Own Righteousness, when we received Jesus. We don't approach God in our own righteousness, but the Righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself. This is a Truth in God, that must be accepted by faith in God's Word and in the Finished Work of Christ. If we don't understand this Truth, then we will have little confidence that our prayers will be heard or answered. James tells us that our prayers should be "dynamic in their working."
Many believers are still more conscious of who we once were, instead of who God has made us to be in Jesus. We're more conscious of our own weaknesses, instead of the Power of His Might. We are righteous before Him in Jesus, but if we don't acknowledge this by faith and walk by the feelings of our flesh, then we won't have confidence in our prayer lives. It's not a matter of "Are you righteous," but do you have faith in Him, to accept this righteousness? If you're born-again, then you've been the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, according to 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified), which says, "For our sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him, we might become endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of the righteousness of God, what we ought to be approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him by His Goodness."
Whether you "feel" righteous or not, has no bearing on what Jesus has done for you. Jesus made you righteous, whether or not you "feel" righteous. We don't feel like we're righteous, because we still remember who we used to be, instead of accepting who God has made us to be in Jesus. We don't have any confidence in God's hearing or answering our prayers, so we derive lame excuses why our prayers weren't answered. We should have faith, that Jesus made us righteous, acceptable and qualified to have our prayers answered.
John tells us that our hearts will accuse us of our past lives, but we can be calmed by our faith in God's Love for us, in 1John 3:18-23 (Amplified). Verse 23 specifically speaks about our having confidence in God saying, "And this is His order, His command, His injunction: that we should believe in, put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on the Name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another just as He commanded."
John writes about our hearts condemning and accusing us of our past, which leaves us without confidence that God hears us. Then, in Verse 23, He commands us to stop listening to our condemning hearts and "Believe in, trust in, have faith in, rely on, and adhere to, the Name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)." We are directed to have more faith in God's Son Jesus, instead of our own "tormenting, self-accusation, and guilty condemning fleshly feelings." We are to trust in the Name of Jesus for our righteousness.
God says that "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more." We must have faith in His Word and Trust in His Righteousness, rather than relying on our own feelings and so we will have the dynamic working of prayer in our lives. James 5:6 (Amplified) says, "A condemning heart will never allow faith to work in prayer and accept His Righteousness." WE MUST PUT OUR TRUST IN HIM, instead of our feelings. Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation, no adjudging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Which is dictating to you about your righteousness? The dictates of the flesh or the dictates of the Spirit? The one you listen to, is the one that will lead you. 1John 3:23 commanded us to, "Believe in the name of God's Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)." We're not only to love one another, but we're to believe on Jesus' Name. When we believe on His Name and in His Righteousness, while listening to the dictates of the Spirit, we can stop a condemning heart and the dictates of the flesh.
Our feelings aren't greater than God's Grace and Truth. We must understand that our carnal mind is still an enemy of Spiritual things, so we must renew our minds by God's Word and faith in Jesus' Name. Romans 8:7 (Amplified) says, "The mind of the flesh with its carnal thoughts and purposes, in hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot."
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Lesson 15 The Church's Identity Crisis
For too many years, the Church has only seen ourselves after the world's viewpoint, instead of what God's Word says about us. We've accepted and adopted the teachings that were handed down to us, which came from man's ideas and carnal thinking. Thankfully, the Truth about salvation and being born-again, have been preserved, but the full knowledge of who we became at the new birth, has been suppressed. We've cleaned up our lives and try our best to live pure lives for God, but we still don't know who God's made us to be on this earth.
Paul writes to the Church in Corinth in 2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified), saying, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
We've been taught and have worked hard to be acceptable to God. We try being good enough for the Father to accept us in our weakened and mortal state of being. Our failures and weaknesses are magnified by others and by the memories we have of our lives prior to being born-again. The remembrance of our old lives and condemnation that brings, still lives larger in our minds than the Truth of what Jesus did for us on Calvary's cross. Others in the Church still point out who were once were, instead of who Jesus made us to be.
Too few of us have ever really seen ourselves after the Truth of being new creations in Christ. The new creation person isn't some repaired, worked over, repainted thing (like an old house), but is created a new creature. The First Adam didn't have a past life and didn't need repairs. He was a new creation that never existed before. When we were born-again in Christ Jesus, we didn't just get forgiven, but were created new beings that never before existed. God said that, "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more." He didn't forget our sins, but He complete removed them and sees us with no past lives. We're a completely different creature in His eyes.
We've mostly believed that these things will change when we get to Heaven. The Truth is that everything changed the moment you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You became a new creation child of the Most High God. The First Adam was a Super-natural being, made in God's Own Image and Likeness, from his first breath.
We've thought that the early Church and those who wrote The New Testament, were the only persons who walked in the Super-natural things of God. The Truth is that they were the ones Jesus trained in the Super-natural, in order to teach us what He taught them and to carry on His earthly ministry. Every teacher is trained to teach others how to continue in what Jesus taught and did.
Satan has done his best, in order to destroy God's children. God's Church has suffered death, prison, and torture for over two-thousand years. We've identified more with what the enemy has done to destroy us, instead of God's Plan to exalt us. We've lost sight of who we're supposed to be in God's eyes and have accepted the world's view of our identity. Paul's life was composed of teaching the Church our true identity in Christ. We've focused on Paul's struggles and suffering to teach us, instead of the Revelation he received directly from Jesus about who we are in Christ.
The Apostles from the early Church endured what they did, in order to spread the Truth of the Gospel and so we could walk in what they taught. Jesus spent 31/2 years training His followers to carry on His ministry, after His ascending to the Father. Every born-again believer is supposed to walk in these things. You might not be called to be an Apostle like Matthew, John and Mark were, but you're just as much a child of God as they were. Jesus taught the Apostle to teach others, so that the teaching of the Gospel would continue until Jesus returns for His Church. The same ministry that Jesus needed to teach His disciples, is still required today, in order to set the captives free. The same devil who held people with sickness and bondage in Jesus' time, is the same devil we deal with today. The Same Holy Spirit Who led Jesus, is the Same Holy Spirit we must rely on today, to fulfill the job done like Jesus instructed and commissioned us to do.
We were all taught math in school, but not all of us became math teachers. We all needed to learn math, so we could function in daily life. You might not be called into a part of the five-fold ministry as a teacher, but you're to be trained to set free all those who are bound around you. You should be as proficient at casting out devil that Paul, Peter and Jesus were. Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus spoke about the new creation family of God in Mark 16:17-18 (Amplified), saying, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages. They will pick up serpents and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well." This is what the disciples were to teach others, so that if the people believed their teachings, then they would carry on those teachings.
Believers are doing what we've been taught, but we apparently haven't been taught like the Apostles. We've been taught from denominational teachings and traditions. If our denomination doesn't believe the things Jesus commissioned, then we didn't learn them. We haven't been taught by the Word and the Holy Spirit, but by the ways of others.
If you're born-again, then YOU ARE A BELIEVER! Today's students are being taught a new math called Common Core math. The basics are the same, but the process is different. Many of us are older and don't understand this new math. We compute the same math problem and come up with the correct answer, but we get there in a totally different way. The early Church learned by Jesus' example and didn't need to rely on what others said.
Today's Church is supposed to walk by God's Word and the Holy Spirit. The Super-natural things of God are supposed to be normal to those who are born-again of a Super-natural God. This is who we really are in Him. It's not that these things are "passed away," but that we haven't been taught them.
Two plus two equals four, even if someone doesn't believe it. If someone doesn't believe what the early Church taught, then that doesn't make the teachings of the early Church any less Truth. We've listened to those who don't know who they were and taught us to doubt our identity as new creations in Christ Jesus.
Paul writes to the Church in Corinth in 2Corinthians 5:16-17 (Amplified), saying, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
We've been taught and have worked hard to be acceptable to God. We try being good enough for the Father to accept us in our weakened and mortal state of being. Our failures and weaknesses are magnified by others and by the memories we have of our lives prior to being born-again. The remembrance of our old lives and condemnation that brings, still lives larger in our minds than the Truth of what Jesus did for us on Calvary's cross. Others in the Church still point out who were once were, instead of who Jesus made us to be.
Too few of us have ever really seen ourselves after the Truth of being new creations in Christ. The new creation person isn't some repaired, worked over, repainted thing (like an old house), but is created a new creature. The First Adam didn't have a past life and didn't need repairs. He was a new creation that never existed before. When we were born-again in Christ Jesus, we didn't just get forgiven, but were created new beings that never before existed. God said that, "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more." He didn't forget our sins, but He complete removed them and sees us with no past lives. We're a completely different creature in His eyes.
We've mostly believed that these things will change when we get to Heaven. The Truth is that everything changed the moment you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You became a new creation child of the Most High God. The First Adam was a Super-natural being, made in God's Own Image and Likeness, from his first breath.
We've thought that the early Church and those who wrote The New Testament, were the only persons who walked in the Super-natural things of God. The Truth is that they were the ones Jesus trained in the Super-natural, in order to teach us what He taught them and to carry on His earthly ministry. Every teacher is trained to teach others how to continue in what Jesus taught and did.
Satan has done his best, in order to destroy God's children. God's Church has suffered death, prison, and torture for over two-thousand years. We've identified more with what the enemy has done to destroy us, instead of God's Plan to exalt us. We've lost sight of who we're supposed to be in God's eyes and have accepted the world's view of our identity. Paul's life was composed of teaching the Church our true identity in Christ. We've focused on Paul's struggles and suffering to teach us, instead of the Revelation he received directly from Jesus about who we are in Christ.
The Apostles from the early Church endured what they did, in order to spread the Truth of the Gospel and so we could walk in what they taught. Jesus spent 31/2 years training His followers to carry on His ministry, after His ascending to the Father. Every born-again believer is supposed to walk in these things. You might not be called to be an Apostle like Matthew, John and Mark were, but you're just as much a child of God as they were. Jesus taught the Apostle to teach others, so that the teaching of the Gospel would continue until Jesus returns for His Church. The same ministry that Jesus needed to teach His disciples, is still required today, in order to set the captives free. The same devil who held people with sickness and bondage in Jesus' time, is the same devil we deal with today. The Same Holy Spirit Who led Jesus, is the Same Holy Spirit we must rely on today, to fulfill the job done like Jesus instructed and commissioned us to do.
We were all taught math in school, but not all of us became math teachers. We all needed to learn math, so we could function in daily life. You might not be called into a part of the five-fold ministry as a teacher, but you're to be trained to set free all those who are bound around you. You should be as proficient at casting out devil that Paul, Peter and Jesus were. Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus spoke about the new creation family of God in Mark 16:17-18 (Amplified), saying, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages. They will pick up serpents and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick and they will get well." This is what the disciples were to teach others, so that if the people believed their teachings, then they would carry on those teachings.
Believers are doing what we've been taught, but we apparently haven't been taught like the Apostles. We've been taught from denominational teachings and traditions. If our denomination doesn't believe the things Jesus commissioned, then we didn't learn them. We haven't been taught by the Word and the Holy Spirit, but by the ways of others.
If you're born-again, then YOU ARE A BELIEVER! Today's students are being taught a new math called Common Core math. The basics are the same, but the process is different. Many of us are older and don't understand this new math. We compute the same math problem and come up with the correct answer, but we get there in a totally different way. The early Church learned by Jesus' example and didn't need to rely on what others said.
Today's Church is supposed to walk by God's Word and the Holy Spirit. The Super-natural things of God are supposed to be normal to those who are born-again of a Super-natural God. This is who we really are in Him. It's not that these things are "passed away," but that we haven't been taught them.
Two plus two equals four, even if someone doesn't believe it. If someone doesn't believe what the early Church taught, then that doesn't make the teachings of the early Church any less Truth. We've listened to those who don't know who they were and taught us to doubt our identity as new creations in Christ Jesus.
Friday, May 15, 2020
Lesson 14 The Church's Identity Crisis
Many things the Father has brought to Light in the last several decades has been lost to the Church, because of tradition and deception. Many things have been misused, misunderstood and invalidated, because of tradition and deception. The message about the power of believer's words, has been misused and misunderstood in the Church, to where we think they're only a means of communication, instead of creativity. We can see the power of spoken Words, when we go to God's Word. God spoke the entire planet and universe into existence and they're still ruled by Words. Man's words have fashioned great outlines for our conduct, in such documents as the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Geneva Convention.
Words start wars, change nations, destroy or build and are still the most powerful force outside of the Holy Spirit, on this planet. In all of God's creation, only mankind has the ability to speak, because he is made in God's Image and Likeness. God's Word begins with the Words that create. We know that Jesus is the Word, according to John 1:1-5 (Amplified) which says, "In the beginning (before all time), was the Word, Christ, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He (the Word) was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him, and without Him, was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men."
The above scriptures tell us how very important words are and should be more than enough to give us understanding. Many have misused this Revelation, so we shouldn't simply accept another person's words as being the "end all," without going to God's Word for ourselves. We can miss the Truth of God's Word, when we accept popular opinion of the day. Different denominations believe different things, but we need Bible belief.
Some believe that it's "prideful" to say "We are the righteousness of God." It's not pride, but is Truth. Jesus didn't walk in pride, when He said that, "The Father and I are One." He was speaking Truth. I realize there's a place where we can go wrong on this, but the Holy Spirit will keep you and teach you all things. When you say, "I'm not righteous," then you're speaking against God's Word and the Truth. When you say, "God doesn't do these things any longer," you're closing yourself from the Truth of God's Word and causing it to not work in your life. Jesus taught us to "Believe and have faith in God."
Healing has not passed away today and neither has the speaking in tongues. Mark 11:22-23 (Amplified) says, "And Jesus said unto them, Have faith in God, constantly. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him."
If you truly believe in your heart and continue saying that "Tongues aren't for today," then Jesus said in the above scripture that you will have what you believe and say. If you truly believe in your heart and continue saying that, "Healing isn't for today," then you will have what you say and believe. Our unbelief and confessions have stopped many of the things the Father has sent to us, from ever getting to us. Our words don't only work for the positive, but also in the negative.
Romans 10:9 tells us that, "If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we will be saved." Are you saved is you don't believe and confess Jesus as your Lord? we must believe and confess God's Word, in order to speak our salvation. We haven't had a faith problem, but an unbelief problem. You have faith if you've received Jesus as your Lord, because you must have faith to believe that. We've been saved by Grace, through faith, according to Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) which says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."
John 3:16 (Amplified) tells us, "For God so Loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son so that whosoever would believe in Him, should not perish but have Ever Lasting Life." We know this is God's will for humanity, but what if you don't believe? Are you still saved? God sent Jesus to Calvary's Cross, so we should be saved, redeemed, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, made Righteous and made sons and daughter of God and joint heirs with Christ. God's Word tells us this, but what if you don't believe and accept them? Is God's Word still True?
God has offered all this to His people, but it still must be received. We say, "If God wants me to have it, then He will do it." Does God want everyone to be saved? Why doesn't He then, just DO IT? You must believe and accept God's Promises by faith and speak out your salvation (speak the Truth in agreement with God). You can't speak directly opposition against God's Word and still receive and believe His Truth.
God speaks about believing and speaking in Proverbs 4:20-24 (Amplified) saying, "My Son, attend to My Word, consent and submit to My sayings Let them not depart from your sight, keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you."
What is false and dishonest and willful and contrary talk? Whatever is contrary to what God has said!. If God says that, "The Word (Jesus) is healing and health to all your flesh," then is this True? Of course it is. We must line our words up with God's Word and have faith in what He says, so He can bring it to pass in our lives. Speaking contrary to the Truth of God's Word, will bind God from bringing it to pass in your life. Do you believe that what you say will come to pass? Jesus says we musts change the words we speak, which are contrary to God's Truth. We must line up our words, with His Words, accepting and believing His Truth. 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."
This isn't teaching the "Name it and claim it" teaching. This is Biblical Truth from God's Own Word, that is enforced by the Holy Spirit. The concept of "Name it and claim it,' came from people who were ruled by the flesh and who refused to believe what God has said. They've limited the Holy One of Israel, like those in the Wilderness did in Numbers 14:1-35. God led them out from under Egypt's bondage, as a cloud by day and fire by night. God provided food and water for them, when there wasn't any. They though, wouldn't enter into God's Rest and His Promised Land, because they were unwilling to adhere to, trust in and rely on God. Unbelief had shut them out and they died in the Wilderness.
Words start wars, change nations, destroy or build and are still the most powerful force outside of the Holy Spirit, on this planet. In all of God's creation, only mankind has the ability to speak, because he is made in God's Image and Likeness. God's Word begins with the Words that create. We know that Jesus is the Word, according to John 1:1-5 (Amplified) which says, "In the beginning (before all time), was the Word, Christ, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He (the Word) was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him, and without Him, was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men."
The above scriptures tell us how very important words are and should be more than enough to give us understanding. Many have misused this Revelation, so we shouldn't simply accept another person's words as being the "end all," without going to God's Word for ourselves. We can miss the Truth of God's Word, when we accept popular opinion of the day. Different denominations believe different things, but we need Bible belief.
Some believe that it's "prideful" to say "We are the righteousness of God." It's not pride, but is Truth. Jesus didn't walk in pride, when He said that, "The Father and I are One." He was speaking Truth. I realize there's a place where we can go wrong on this, but the Holy Spirit will keep you and teach you all things. When you say, "I'm not righteous," then you're speaking against God's Word and the Truth. When you say, "God doesn't do these things any longer," you're closing yourself from the Truth of God's Word and causing it to not work in your life. Jesus taught us to "Believe and have faith in God."
Healing has not passed away today and neither has the speaking in tongues. Mark 11:22-23 (Amplified) says, "And Jesus said unto them, Have faith in God, constantly. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him."
If you truly believe in your heart and continue saying that "Tongues aren't for today," then Jesus said in the above scripture that you will have what you believe and say. If you truly believe in your heart and continue saying that, "Healing isn't for today," then you will have what you say and believe. Our unbelief and confessions have stopped many of the things the Father has sent to us, from ever getting to us. Our words don't only work for the positive, but also in the negative.
Romans 10:9 tells us that, "If we believe in our heart and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, then we will be saved." Are you saved is you don't believe and confess Jesus as your Lord? we must believe and confess God's Word, in order to speak our salvation. We haven't had a faith problem, but an unbelief problem. You have faith if you've received Jesus as your Lord, because you must have faith to believe that. We've been saved by Grace, through faith, according to Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) which says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."
John 3:16 (Amplified) tells us, "For God so Loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son so that whosoever would believe in Him, should not perish but have Ever Lasting Life." We know this is God's will for humanity, but what if you don't believe? Are you still saved? God sent Jesus to Calvary's Cross, so we should be saved, redeemed, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, made Righteous and made sons and daughter of God and joint heirs with Christ. God's Word tells us this, but what if you don't believe and accept them? Is God's Word still True?
God has offered all this to His people, but it still must be received. We say, "If God wants me to have it, then He will do it." Does God want everyone to be saved? Why doesn't He then, just DO IT? You must believe and accept God's Promises by faith and speak out your salvation (speak the Truth in agreement with God). You can't speak directly opposition against God's Word and still receive and believe His Truth.
God speaks about believing and speaking in Proverbs 4:20-24 (Amplified) saying, "My Son, attend to My Word, consent and submit to My sayings Let them not depart from your sight, keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you."
What is false and dishonest and willful and contrary talk? Whatever is contrary to what God has said!. If God says that, "The Word (Jesus) is healing and health to all your flesh," then is this True? Of course it is. We must line our words up with God's Word and have faith in what He says, so He can bring it to pass in our lives. Speaking contrary to the Truth of God's Word, will bind God from bringing it to pass in your life. Do you believe that what you say will come to pass? Jesus says we musts change the words we speak, which are contrary to God's Truth. We must line up our words, with His Words, accepting and believing His Truth. 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."
This isn't teaching the "Name it and claim it" teaching. This is Biblical Truth from God's Own Word, that is enforced by the Holy Spirit. The concept of "Name it and claim it,' came from people who were ruled by the flesh and who refused to believe what God has said. They've limited the Holy One of Israel, like those in the Wilderness did in Numbers 14:1-35. God led them out from under Egypt's bondage, as a cloud by day and fire by night. God provided food and water for them, when there wasn't any. They though, wouldn't enter into God's Rest and His Promised Land, because they were unwilling to adhere to, trust in and rely on God. Unbelief had shut them out and they died in the Wilderness.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Lesson 13 The Church's Identity Crisis
The enemy has used the same attack on God's people, from the First Adam to the Last Adam, Jesus. In the Garden of Eden, satan said, "If you are" and he continues causing God's people to question their and who the Father says we are today. The enemy suggested that God was holding out on Adam and Eve, so that Eve wasn't fulfilled in her identity. In Genesis 3:5 (Amplified), satan told Eve , "For God knows that in the day you eat of [the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and Blessing and calamity."
Adam and Eve were already in God's Image and Likeness, according to Genesis 1:26-27,28 (Amplified) which says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth." Adam and Eve already had God's Blessing upon them according to Verse 28, which says, "And God Blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful (multiply, and fill the earth), and subdue it, using all its vast resources in the service of God and man, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth."
Adam and Eve were both already made like God and were Blessed by Him, so what could they gain by believing satan's lie and eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil? They already knew the good and Blessing, so their only "gain" could be their knowing evil and calamity. Satan tried using the same tactics on Jesus in Luke 4:6 (Amplified), which tells us, "And [satan] said to [Jesus], To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will." Jesus knew that Adam turned the authority and dominion God gave to him, over to satan. Jesus knew Who He was in the Father, knew that He already had everything satan had offered to Him and knew His True Identity.
If today's believers know who we are now in Christ Jesus, then we shouldn't be tempted to question our identity, just like Jesus didn't question His Identity. Adam delivered everything God had given him, over to the enemy. Jesus was without sin, so He wasn't subject to the Law of Sin and Death. Jesus had absolutely nothing to gain from satan's temptation. All things were still under the Blessing to Him, according to Hebrews 1:2 (Amplified) which says, "But in the Last of these days, He has spoken unto us in the Person of a Son Whom He appointed Heir and Lawful Owner of all things, also by Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time, He made (produced, built, operated) and arranged them in order."
Jesus held onto His true Identity and didn't give into satan's temptation, because He understood Who He really was. Jesus didn't fall into the same test that Adam and Eve gave into, but He retained "All power and authority over all creation," including over satan. The new creation family of God has been made joint heirs with Jesus and everything Adam lost in both Heaven and earth, has been restored to us. We've never truly understood the Full impact of what Jesus has done for us. We don't know our true identity in Christ, causing us to yield to the same thing Eve fell under when satan told her, "You will be like God and know the difference between good and evil and Blessing and calamity, if you eat the fruit." I've had all the calamity and evil that I want to know and I'm ready to know the good and Blessing, through Jesus!
When we truly understand our identity as the new creation children of God, we can forgo the Curse, the calamity, the evil and everything that resulted from Adam's fall. We can partake of the good and Blessing that God intended and has now restored to His children through Jesus. It doesn't do any good to have authority over all these things in Heaven, because there's nothing there to take authority over. There is no calamity, evil, Curse or satan to take authority over, in God's Presence. We're to take authority over these things here on earth.
In Hebrews 2:13-14 (Amplified) Paul writes about Jesus not being ashamed to call us brothers and sisters saying, "And He again says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I Am, I and the children whom God has given Me. Since therefore, these His children share in flesh and blood (in the physical nature of human beings), He Himself in a similar manner partook of the same nature, that by going through death He might bring to naught and make no effect him who had the power of death, that is the devil." Jesus was a Man, filled with the Holy Spirit. He was without sin and overcame satan at every turn. Jesus gave the new creation people that power to overcome through His Resurrection and restored God's children back into the place before Adam's fall. He has opened up the way back into God's Presence again. Jesus has given the new creation the full authority and dominion by His Name and Blood.
Satan had clouded the minds of God's children, so we don't know our true identity in Christ Jesus. There's an old saying that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Why should satan change his strategy, when it's worked so well? If God's new creation people could see ourselves as children of the Most High God, in Jesus, then we could break the darkness around us.
We've remained outside God's Throne of Grace, standing in the outer courts and performing works to curry God's favor, because we've continued seeing ourselves as old sinners and like the old covenant saints. We don't belong in the outer court, but remain there, because we focus on our past lives and sins. We live under satan's condemnation, because we don't see ourselves through the Father's eyes. God sees us as pure, holy, justified, Righteous, and accepted. He see us as His Own children, without a past life.
If we are new creations, then we don't have a past, but we are in Jesus and made new. We are like newborn babies, who have no past lives. The sin we were born because of Adam's fall, is no longer there, because we were born of God, in Christ. The new creation children of God are born without sin altogether and are created in God's Own Image and Likeness again. Many believe that it's "prideful" to confess who we've been created to be, in Jesus. They say, "How dare we declare that we are righteous and without sin." We're cleansed daily from the world and sin, by the Power of Jesus' Blood. Not just once, but forever. Does this mean that we never make mistakes or mess up? No, of course not, but the Blood of Jesus isn't like the blood of animals under the old covenant. The blood of goats and bulls could only cover sin, but the Blood of Jesus has eradicated and totally removed the stain of sin from us. Satan can only condemn us and make us feel guilty, by bringing up the past sins of our lives. We must know our true identity in Jesus and renew our minds with God's Word, in order to hold fast to our new identity and not give into satan's lies.
2Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified) says, "And all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continue to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another; for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit." Paul is writing to the Church in Corinth in 1Corinthians 6:9-11 (Amplified) saying, "Do you not know that the unrighteous and wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled), neither the impure and immoral, nor idolators, nor adulterers, no those who participate in homosexuality, not cheats, swindlers and thieves, no greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foul-mouthed revilers, slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God. And such some of you were once, But you were washed clean, purified by a Complete Atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin, and you were consecrated, set apart hallowed, and you were justified, pronounced Righteous, BY TRUSTING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and in the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD."
Paul is writing about our identities before being born-again in Christ Jesus and the identity we now have in Christ. We all were sinners once. The people under the Law had their sins covered by the blood of animals, which allowed the Father to Bless them to a degree, but they were still stained by the sin and death that came through the First Adam's fall. Jesus Christ shed His sinless Blood, so that our sins weren't just covered. Jesus' Sacrifice meant that our sins were completely removed and no stain of sin remained. We are to see ourselves in the mirror of God's sight and see ourselves as being cleaned by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
It can be difficult to forget who we once were and to see ourselves the way God' sees us. The unrenewed minds think it's arrogant and haughty to call ourselves righteous. We're not righteous in ourselves, but in His Righteousness. Jesus knew Who He was and never allowed the enemy to deceive Him. Many around Jesus, believed Him to be "arrogant," because He told them, "I am the Son of God" and "The Father and I are Once." Jesus wasn't being prideful. He was speaking Truth.
It's not prideful to see yourself as the Father sees you. It's Truth. When we deny our identity in Jesus, we're not speaking Truth. We're being deceived by the same lie satan used against Adam and Eve. We're either who the Father has created us to be in Jesus, or we need to get saved for real, because we didn't believe it when we got saved. You are a new creation altogether in Christ Jesus.
Adam and Eve were already in God's Image and Likeness, according to Genesis 1:26-27,28 (Amplified) which says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth." Adam and Eve already had God's Blessing upon them according to Verse 28, which says, "And God Blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful (multiply, and fill the earth), and subdue it, using all its vast resources in the service of God and man, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth."
Adam and Eve were both already made like God and were Blessed by Him, so what could they gain by believing satan's lie and eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil? They already knew the good and Blessing, so their only "gain" could be their knowing evil and calamity. Satan tried using the same tactics on Jesus in Luke 4:6 (Amplified), which tells us, "And [satan] said to [Jesus], To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will." Jesus knew that Adam turned the authority and dominion God gave to him, over to satan. Jesus knew Who He was in the Father, knew that He already had everything satan had offered to Him and knew His True Identity.
If today's believers know who we are now in Christ Jesus, then we shouldn't be tempted to question our identity, just like Jesus didn't question His Identity. Adam delivered everything God had given him, over to the enemy. Jesus was without sin, so He wasn't subject to the Law of Sin and Death. Jesus had absolutely nothing to gain from satan's temptation. All things were still under the Blessing to Him, according to Hebrews 1:2 (Amplified) which says, "But in the Last of these days, He has spoken unto us in the Person of a Son Whom He appointed Heir and Lawful Owner of all things, also by Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time, He made (produced, built, operated) and arranged them in order."
Jesus held onto His true Identity and didn't give into satan's temptation, because He understood Who He really was. Jesus didn't fall into the same test that Adam and Eve gave into, but He retained "All power and authority over all creation," including over satan. The new creation family of God has been made joint heirs with Jesus and everything Adam lost in both Heaven and earth, has been restored to us. We've never truly understood the Full impact of what Jesus has done for us. We don't know our true identity in Christ, causing us to yield to the same thing Eve fell under when satan told her, "You will be like God and know the difference between good and evil and Blessing and calamity, if you eat the fruit." I've had all the calamity and evil that I want to know and I'm ready to know the good and Blessing, through Jesus!
When we truly understand our identity as the new creation children of God, we can forgo the Curse, the calamity, the evil and everything that resulted from Adam's fall. We can partake of the good and Blessing that God intended and has now restored to His children through Jesus. It doesn't do any good to have authority over all these things in Heaven, because there's nothing there to take authority over. There is no calamity, evil, Curse or satan to take authority over, in God's Presence. We're to take authority over these things here on earth.
In Hebrews 2:13-14 (Amplified) Paul writes about Jesus not being ashamed to call us brothers and sisters saying, "And He again says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I Am, I and the children whom God has given Me. Since therefore, these His children share in flesh and blood (in the physical nature of human beings), He Himself in a similar manner partook of the same nature, that by going through death He might bring to naught and make no effect him who had the power of death, that is the devil." Jesus was a Man, filled with the Holy Spirit. He was without sin and overcame satan at every turn. Jesus gave the new creation people that power to overcome through His Resurrection and restored God's children back into the place before Adam's fall. He has opened up the way back into God's Presence again. Jesus has given the new creation the full authority and dominion by His Name and Blood.
Satan had clouded the minds of God's children, so we don't know our true identity in Christ Jesus. There's an old saying that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Why should satan change his strategy, when it's worked so well? If God's new creation people could see ourselves as children of the Most High God, in Jesus, then we could break the darkness around us.
We've remained outside God's Throne of Grace, standing in the outer courts and performing works to curry God's favor, because we've continued seeing ourselves as old sinners and like the old covenant saints. We don't belong in the outer court, but remain there, because we focus on our past lives and sins. We live under satan's condemnation, because we don't see ourselves through the Father's eyes. God sees us as pure, holy, justified, Righteous, and accepted. He see us as His Own children, without a past life.
If we are new creations, then we don't have a past, but we are in Jesus and made new. We are like newborn babies, who have no past lives. The sin we were born because of Adam's fall, is no longer there, because we were born of God, in Christ. The new creation children of God are born without sin altogether and are created in God's Own Image and Likeness again. Many believe that it's "prideful" to confess who we've been created to be, in Jesus. They say, "How dare we declare that we are righteous and without sin." We're cleansed daily from the world and sin, by the Power of Jesus' Blood. Not just once, but forever. Does this mean that we never make mistakes or mess up? No, of course not, but the Blood of Jesus isn't like the blood of animals under the old covenant. The blood of goats and bulls could only cover sin, but the Blood of Jesus has eradicated and totally removed the stain of sin from us. Satan can only condemn us and make us feel guilty, by bringing up the past sins of our lives. We must know our true identity in Jesus and renew our minds with God's Word, in order to hold fast to our new identity and not give into satan's lies.
2Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified) says, "And all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continue to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another; for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit." Paul is writing to the Church in Corinth in 1Corinthians 6:9-11 (Amplified) saying, "Do you not know that the unrighteous and wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled), neither the impure and immoral, nor idolators, nor adulterers, no those who participate in homosexuality, not cheats, swindlers and thieves, no greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foul-mouthed revilers, slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God. And such some of you were once, But you were washed clean, purified by a Complete Atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin, and you were consecrated, set apart hallowed, and you were justified, pronounced Righteous, BY TRUSTING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and in the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD."
Paul is writing about our identities before being born-again in Christ Jesus and the identity we now have in Christ. We all were sinners once. The people under the Law had their sins covered by the blood of animals, which allowed the Father to Bless them to a degree, but they were still stained by the sin and death that came through the First Adam's fall. Jesus Christ shed His sinless Blood, so that our sins weren't just covered. Jesus' Sacrifice meant that our sins were completely removed and no stain of sin remained. We are to see ourselves in the mirror of God's sight and see ourselves as being cleaned by the Blood of Jesus Christ.
It can be difficult to forget who we once were and to see ourselves the way God' sees us. The unrenewed minds think it's arrogant and haughty to call ourselves righteous. We're not righteous in ourselves, but in His Righteousness. Jesus knew Who He was and never allowed the enemy to deceive Him. Many around Jesus, believed Him to be "arrogant," because He told them, "I am the Son of God" and "The Father and I are Once." Jesus wasn't being prideful. He was speaking Truth.
It's not prideful to see yourself as the Father sees you. It's Truth. When we deny our identity in Jesus, we're not speaking Truth. We're being deceived by the same lie satan used against Adam and Eve. We're either who the Father has created us to be in Jesus, or we need to get saved for real, because we didn't believe it when we got saved. You are a new creation altogether in Christ Jesus.
Monday, May 11, 2020
Lesson 12 The Church's Identity Crisis
Believers must by faith, accept what God's Word says about us, in order to know who we've become in Christ Jesus. We've become new creations by God's Grace. The Father's Grace has birthed us into the new creation, by His Word. There has never before been a people, like the Church. God created everything on the earth and in the earth, giving dominion and authority over them to the First Adam and God didn't create again, until sending Jesus into the earth. By His Grace and His Great Love, God created again new creation people, who are just as new as Light was in the beginning. God created the new creation people, just like He created the Heavens and earth in the beginning. We are the new creation family of God and are a product of His Love and His Grace.
Paul explains where mankind was after Adam's transgression and before the new creation was brought forth by our Heavenly Father. Thus, he writes in Ephesians 2:12 (Amplified), "Remember, that you were at that time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part of Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements (His covenants), And you had no hope (no Promise), you were in the world without God."
Because the Church doesn't know who we really are, we have accepted the age-old attitude, saying, "You never know what God will do" and "It may not be God's will." The Church has split into many different camps, where some believe "we are all covered no matter what we do, because of God's Grace." Another camp believes that faith means we can "make things happen on our own." The simple Truth is that faith will not produce anything, that Grace has not already provided.
The Father gave me several things to minister, concerning His children. He told me, "My Grace has provided much more than their faith has ever obtained." I entitled the Message, "The Unclaimed Riches of Grace." Faith doesn't "make" God do anything. Faith only allows God to do what He has already made available, by His Grace. God has already provided everything we'll ever need, by the Sacrifice and Resurrection of Jesus. We don't need to rely on sacrifices, rituals, tradition or works, but only have faith in Jesus' Sacrifice.
We must simply accept in faith, what Jesus' Sacrifice has already provided by Grace or God's unmerited favor. This means that we don't need to ask the Father for so many things, because He's already provided them. We've done nothing to earn God's Grace and we don't need to follow the Law, to obtain them. We must only believe.
We've used man's Wisdom and the world system, creating our own set of laws to follow, in order to obtain and receive from the Father. We've created many reasons for why things don't work the way we thought they should. We make excuses saying, "According to His will," when God's will was made perfectly clear in the Life and ministry of Jesus. If Jesus did it, then it was God's will. If Jesus didn't do it, then it wasn't God's will. Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see My Father. It's not Me but the Father in Me, Who does the work." How much more clearly can the Father's will be, than that?
If Jesus was healing the sick, then it was the Father in Him Who did the work. That means that healing is the will of God. If Jesus taught the Blessing, instead of the Curse, then it was the Father in Jesus Who was preaching the Blessing. If Jesus provided bread and fish for those who were without, then it was the Father providing for the people's needs, through Jesus. We think that God deals with the new covenant people, like He did the old covenant people. When we don't know the difference between the Law and Grace, we don't receive what God intended for us, in the new creation covenant.
Matthew 5:17 tells us that, "Jesus fulfilled the Law." This means that those who are in Christ Jesus, have fulfilled the Law too. Grace provided a way to fulfill the Law, that only Jesus could do. When we have faith in Jesus' doing what we could never do, then we've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law, by fulfilling it. Those who are under the new covenant in the Blood of Jesus, have only two Laws to keep. They are, "Love the Lord" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." By Grace, the Father has shed His Love in our hearts and the Holy Spirit fulfills this and demonstrates the Father's Love to the world.
Grace doesn't give as license to live any way we wish. Grace has provided the covering while we grow in Christ. We still make mistakes when we first come to Christ, because we lived our entire lives in the carnal realm before knowing Him. We still have the habits that need changing. Grace covers our entire former lives and faith in this Grace, gives us confidence to hold onto the Father's Righteousness, while we learn how to walk in His Kingdom. If we were to live in our righteousness, then we are always wrong.
We read about Grace through faith, in John 1:16-17 (Amplified), which 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 received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you received the entire package of Grace and Blessing. It's His Righteousness, His Grace, His justification and His sanctification. The Blessing of Abraham came upon us through Jesus, the Seed. Through Jesus' stripes, we received healing. Jesus became the Curse for us, so that we could receive the Blessing. His Blood paid for our sins and iniquities. Through His Resurrection from death, we were made new creations and became heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. We became sons and daughters of the Household of the family of faith and are "Called by His Name."
The only thing believers must do to receive these things, is put faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus. Pride keeps us from accepting the Free Gift of Righteousness, so we continue trying to earn it by our works. We know that we don't deserve all the things that Jesus gave us. Our natural pride makes us try to earn it, before we can accept it. The harder we try though, the more we miss it, because we're putting more faith in our own ability, instead of His ability. It's hard to accept the Truth of what He has done for us. We still don't understand that our sins have been removed and still deal with the condemnation and guilt of our old man/woman who died with Jesus and was raised a new creation.
There was nothing left undone, in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Not one thing was left to point to, for anyone who receives Jesus has our Substitute and puts faith in His Sacrifice. The only thing holding us back from entering the Father's Presence, is our own natural mind of guilt. Paul instructed us to "renew our minds with God's Word and His Spirit." Paul said we're to learn to see and speak and think, like new creation people and not be continually looking at our past.
Paul tells us to see ourselves "In the Light of Jesus," in 2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amplified), saying, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is Liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled faces, because we continue to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror, the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another, for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."
We change into His Image, by faith in His Grace!
Paul explains where mankind was after Adam's transgression and before the new creation was brought forth by our Heavenly Father. Thus, he writes in Ephesians 2:12 (Amplified), "Remember, that you were at that time separated, living apart from Christ, excluded from all part of Him, utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the Messianic Promise with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements (His covenants), And you had no hope (no Promise), you were in the world without God."
Because the Church doesn't know who we really are, we have accepted the age-old attitude, saying, "You never know what God will do" and "It may not be God's will." The Church has split into many different camps, where some believe "we are all covered no matter what we do, because of God's Grace." Another camp believes that faith means we can "make things happen on our own." The simple Truth is that faith will not produce anything, that Grace has not already provided.
The Father gave me several things to minister, concerning His children. He told me, "My Grace has provided much more than their faith has ever obtained." I entitled the Message, "The Unclaimed Riches of Grace." Faith doesn't "make" God do anything. Faith only allows God to do what He has already made available, by His Grace. God has already provided everything we'll ever need, by the Sacrifice and Resurrection of Jesus. We don't need to rely on sacrifices, rituals, tradition or works, but only have faith in Jesus' Sacrifice.
We must simply accept in faith, what Jesus' Sacrifice has already provided by Grace or God's unmerited favor. This means that we don't need to ask the Father for so many things, because He's already provided them. We've done nothing to earn God's Grace and we don't need to follow the Law, to obtain them. We must only believe.
We've used man's Wisdom and the world system, creating our own set of laws to follow, in order to obtain and receive from the Father. We've created many reasons for why things don't work the way we thought they should. We make excuses saying, "According to His will," when God's will was made perfectly clear in the Life and ministry of Jesus. If Jesus did it, then it was God's will. If Jesus didn't do it, then it wasn't God's will. Jesus said, "When you see Me, you see My Father. It's not Me but the Father in Me, Who does the work." How much more clearly can the Father's will be, than that?
If Jesus was healing the sick, then it was the Father in Him Who did the work. That means that healing is the will of God. If Jesus taught the Blessing, instead of the Curse, then it was the Father in Jesus Who was preaching the Blessing. If Jesus provided bread and fish for those who were without, then it was the Father providing for the people's needs, through Jesus. We think that God deals with the new covenant people, like He did the old covenant people. When we don't know the difference between the Law and Grace, we don't receive what God intended for us, in the new creation covenant.
Matthew 5:17 tells us that, "Jesus fulfilled the Law." This means that those who are in Christ Jesus, have fulfilled the Law too. Grace provided a way to fulfill the Law, that only Jesus could do. When we have faith in Jesus' doing what we could never do, then we've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law, by fulfilling it. Those who are under the new covenant in the Blood of Jesus, have only two Laws to keep. They are, "Love the Lord" and "Love your neighbor as yourself." By Grace, the Father has shed His Love in our hearts and the Holy Spirit fulfills this and demonstrates the Father's Love to the world.
Grace doesn't give as license to live any way we wish. Grace has provided the covering while we grow in Christ. We still make mistakes when we first come to Christ, because we lived our entire lives in the carnal realm before knowing Him. We still have the habits that need changing. Grace covers our entire former lives and faith in this Grace, gives us confidence to hold onto the Father's Righteousness, while we learn how to walk in His Kingdom. If we were to live in our righteousness, then we are always wrong.
We read about Grace through faith, in John 1:16-17 (Amplified), which 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 received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you received the entire package of Grace and Blessing. It's His Righteousness, His Grace, His justification and His sanctification. The Blessing of Abraham came upon us through Jesus, the Seed. Through Jesus' stripes, we received healing. Jesus became the Curse for us, so that we could receive the Blessing. His Blood paid for our sins and iniquities. Through His Resurrection from death, we were made new creations and became heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus. We became sons and daughters of the Household of the family of faith and are "Called by His Name."
The only thing believers must do to receive these things, is put faith in the Finished Work of Christ Jesus. Pride keeps us from accepting the Free Gift of Righteousness, so we continue trying to earn it by our works. We know that we don't deserve all the things that Jesus gave us. Our natural pride makes us try to earn it, before we can accept it. The harder we try though, the more we miss it, because we're putting more faith in our own ability, instead of His ability. It's hard to accept the Truth of what He has done for us. We still don't understand that our sins have been removed and still deal with the condemnation and guilt of our old man/woman who died with Jesus and was raised a new creation.
There was nothing left undone, in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Not one thing was left to point to, for anyone who receives Jesus has our Substitute and puts faith in His Sacrifice. The only thing holding us back from entering the Father's Presence, is our own natural mind of guilt. Paul instructed us to "renew our minds with God's Word and His Spirit." Paul said we're to learn to see and speak and think, like new creation people and not be continually looking at our past.
Paul tells us to see ourselves "In the Light of Jesus," in 2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amplified), saying, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, There is Liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled faces, because we continue to behold in the Word of God as in a mirror, the Glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of Glory to another, for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."
We change into His Image, by faith in His Grace!
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