John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Proverbs 7:4 (Amplified) tells us, "Say to skillful and Godly Wisdom; You are my sister, and regard understanding or insight as your intimate friend."
In Mark4:11 (Amplified), Jesus told His followers and those of us who are born-again now, the we have the Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us and give us insight. We can now understand the things Jesus was saying, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the new birth, unlike those before the new birth. Thus, Jesus said, "To you has been entrusted the Mystery of the Kingdom of God, that is the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly, but for those outside of our circle everything becomes a Parable."
Only those who are born-again and have the Holy Spirit within us, have the ability to understand the secret counsels and mysteries of God's Kingdom. Jesus taught that the Word is seed and we understand that the whole Kingdom of God hinges upon words (seeds) we hear and sow in our lives. This is one of the greatest reasons God is bringing the Law of Confession to light presently. Some don't understand this though and believe it's "foolishness." To those who are mature and are seeking understanding, it's the pathway to understanding.
Many disregard the teachings about "Watching what we say," while others have used this teaching, without understanding the value it holds in the lives of believers. Jesus spoke about these people in "The Parable of the Sower," found in Mark 4:16-17 (Amplified), where He says, "And in the same way, the ones (seeds) sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept it and welcome it with joy. And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become indignant, resentful, displeased) and they stumble and fall away."
Many in the Church have heard the Word concerning the Mystery and secret counsel of the Kingdom. Many believers have heard teachings about, "Watching what you say," but then when trouble arises, or they have a disagreement with a fellow believer, or when persecution and trouble arose because of the teaching, they become offended and fall away from this understanding of the Spiritual aspect of this teaching.
John 3:34 (Amplified) says, "For since He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own Message), God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit."
Did everyone always welcome and accept Jesus' Words? No. Did Jesus change what He was sent to say, in order not to suffer the persecution of being rejected by the unbelieving people? No. Jesus didn't fall away and say what they wished to hear. God brought to pass whatsoever Jesus said, during His earthly ministry and life. Why? Because, it was His Word and His Kingdom works by Words. This is one of the great Mysteries of the Kingdom.
Again, we read "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:26-29 (Amplified) where Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground And men continue sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases-he knows not how." Verse 28 says, "The earth produces acting by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, and permits, immediately he sends forth the reapers and puts in the sickle because the harvest stands ready."
It doesn't matter that you don't know how a seed does what it does. The seed still "works in the earth (your spirit) which is acting by itself" and produces the harvest from the seed that was sown. We must not keep digging up the seed, in order to discover how it's working.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to give us understanding and reveal it to us, it becomes Revelation and not just education. Then, it's ours forever. Paul expounds on "The Parable of the Sower" in 2Timothy 2:3-7 (Amplified) saying, "Take with me your share of suffering and hardships [remember Jesus said that, "Persecutions and afflictions arise for the Word's sake] which you are called to endure as a good first-class soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of civilian life (he does not get caught up in the world) His aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him. And if anyone enters competitive games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully, fairly according to the rules laid down. [If you want the Word to work for you, then you must do it by the Laws that govern God's Kingdom]." Verses 6-7 go on, "It is the hardworking farmer who labors to produce who must be the first partaker of the fruits. [It's only when you are working and producing the secret counsel in your life, that you're able to share it with others]. Think over these things I am saying, understand them and grasp their application. For the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything."
Understanding the Law of words, is one of the first and greatest staring places in the Kingdom. When you watch what you say and are certain about the words you speak into the lives of others and yourself, then you have "The Beginning of Wisdom, according to Proverbs. Remember what Jesus said in Mark 4:28 (Amplified), "The earth (your spirit that receives the Word or seed) produces, acting by itself-first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear."
When understanding comes to us, about what we say and hear, it might start in simply a seed, just words. Jesus said that when you either allow or don't allow it into your heart or spirit, then your spirit will produce, acting by itself. Don't be discouraged by not producing a harvest before it starts like a blade, just be careful what you hear. Remember, the earth or soil (heart or spirit) of a man produces, acting by itself.
The ground or earth doesn't determine the seed, but only produces what we sow into it. If you plant corn, then it will grow corn. If you plant Poison Ivy, then it will grow Poison Ivy, because it produces acting by itself. We must be careful what we hear and not allow just any seed to be sown in our hearts. We must not plant any seed (word) that we don't want a harvest from.
Words are seeds. Words of the Spirit and words that are carnal, of the flesh, will both produce a harvest in our lives. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside [remember that we reap what we sow and that our spirit (soil) will produce acting by itself. It will grow what you allow to be sown it, because this is one of the precepts of God]. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. [Just because you don't believe His precepts, doesn't change His precepts]. For whatever a man sows that and only that is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction. [If we continue to be fleshly, carnal in our understanding and sow only this, then only what the flesh can produce is what we will reap]. But he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life. [This doesn't mean life in Heaven only, but the Eternal things of Life here on earth. The seeds of Life that we sow or allow to be sown here, will produce here].
Getting understanding isn't a simple suggestion, but is a necessity in our lives. We simply sow to the flesh, when we don't understand the Seed Principal from Genesis 1:12 (Amplified) which says, "The earth brought forth vegetation; plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, each according to its kind and God saw that it was good (suitable, admirable), and HE APPROVED IT."
God made us in His Image and His Likeness, after His Seed (His Word), according to Genesis 1:27 (Amplified) which tells us, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God." Read through and find out what God's Word says about speaking His Word or speaking against His Word. See what speaking or sowing God's Word produces and what speaking or sowing things against His Word produces. God began speaking Jesus into this earth after Adam's fall in the Gard of Eden, in Genesis 3:15 (Amplified) where He says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you shall life in wait and bruise His heel." God's Seed (Word) had been sown and John 1:14 (Amplified) tells us, "And the Word (Christ), became flesh (human, incarnate)." God spoke Jesus into this world, "first a Seed, then a blade, then a grain, and eventually a harvest." After Kind, Words of understanding.
Friday, January 4, 2019
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Lesson 133 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Truth is the greatest of all things, in the life of a believer. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, 36 (Amplified), "If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them), you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
Notice, Jesus tells us, "If we abide in His Word, which is Truth, you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." Jesus continues in Verse 36 saying, "So if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably free."
When we received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our freedom was a "done deal." There is no bondage that can overcome the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. So, why are so many in today's Church, still in bondage to so many things? The first part of the above scripture, is the key to freedom, where Jesus said, "If you abide (live) in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live according to them)..."
The teachings of Jesus didn't stop at the end of the four Gospels. The four Gospels were actually Old Testament books and didn't become reality to us, until Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit. Since that time, Paul and others wrote other books of the Bible and these were the Words of Jesus.
Paul write in Galatians 1:11-12 (Amplified), "For I want you to know brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known to me is not a man's gospel (a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard). For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a direct Revelation given by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
When we read Paul's Gospel, we're doing what Jesus said, and are "holding fast to His teachings and living in accordance with them." Jesus said that, when we do this, "Then we will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
Many things that Paul wrote in his Epistles, have been determined by carnal minds, to be "man's gospel and human invention." Anything man couldn't understand by his own understanding, was simply dismissed as being "not relevant for us today." We, then, haven't known the Truth, but a truth. The Truth will bring us into liberty in Christ Jesus, according to Romans 10:9 (Amplified) which says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe, trust in, adhere to, and rely on the Truth that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Many have expressed faith in the Truth that God has raised Jesus from the dead and they've been saved. But, Truth goes beyond the Truth that Jesus was raised from the dead. This Truth has led you to become born-again, but now we're to abide in Him, in His teachings and this Truth will set us free. Weren't we set free, when we were born-again? Yes! But, do you know how to walk in this freedom, without knowing how to live in accordance to His teachings?
Understanding the Truth that has made you free, is the key to living in freedom and liberty. When we don't understand what a things is for, we nearly always abuse it. When we don't understand our liberty in Christ, we either abuse this liberty or allow someone else to dictate our liberty for us and this inherently translates into man's wisdom and bondage. Natural, carnal minded man can only understand truth according to this natural world and knowledge. If one can't explain it by natural means, then he dismisses it as "not being relevant for us today."
The first thing about understanding, is realizing that we're dealing in a Spiritual Truth and not a natural things. In order to understand Spiritual Truth, we must have a renewed mind. The natural man can't understand what education hasn't taught him. This is why Paul writes in Galatians 1:11-12 (Amplified), "For I want you to know brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me, is not a man's gospel (a human invention, according or patterned after any human standards). For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it; but it came to me through a direct Revelation given by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
Jesus knows more about this new birth and this new creation people, than anyone and we must understand what Paul is saying about the Spiritual application of the Gospel. We're interpreted Grace by our own intellect and devised some pretty far-out things. We continue trying to bring the Spiritual aspects of the Gospel, into our natural understanding and by doing this, we've nearly removed God's ability to move in our natural world.
Not everyone will accept the Year of Understanding, just like those who didn't receive the things Jesus taught in His ministry. Some will cling to old traditions and religious teachings. Everything we've learned throughout the years, hasn't been wrong. Many things that we've been taught came from Revelation, but then men changed them according to natural understandings and lost sight of the Truth.
When God speaks about understanding, He's not referring simply to our knowing how to read. He's speaking about our perceiving in our spirit, the full Truth of His Word. Jesus told us 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."
How many of us have ever considered words to be Spirit and not just a means of communicating? It's true that words are part of communication, but we must also understand what Jesus was saying in the above scripture. Jesus told us in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." Since God is Spirit and His Word is Spirit and we are Spirit (made in His Image and Likeness), we must put value on understanding His Word.
When Paul writes about the Revelation he received from Jesus, he is speaking to three different kinds of people. He's speaking to the natural man, those who are unsaved. He is speaking to those who are saved and haven't renewed their minds (are carnal minded people). And, Paul's speaking those those who have renewed their minds by understanding Spiritual things.
Paul writes in Romans 8:7,9 (Amplified), "That is because the mind of the flesh, with its carnal thought and purposes, is hostile to God for it does not submit itself to God's Law, indeed it cannot." He writes to those who are born-again in Verse 9 saying, "But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the Life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you, directs and controls you. But if anyone does not possess the Holy Spirit of Christ, he is none of His, he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God."
In 1Corinthians 3:1-3 (Amplified), Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, saying, "However Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non-spiritual men of the flesh; in whom the carnal nature predominates, as to mere infants in the New Life in Christ (unable to talk yet). I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it; but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it. For you are still unspiritual (having the nature of the flesh, under the control of the ordinary impulses). For as long as there are envying, and jealousy and wranglings and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh (behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere unsaved men)?"
Paul called those who were wrangling and envying among themselves, "mere unsaved men." Paul said that this type of behavior comes from the lack of understanding spiritual things. The carnal mind is an enemy of God and it refuses to accept anything it can't understand in the natural, carnal, worldly explanations. Remember, we have been born-again, not be a natural seed, but One that is Spirit. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Truth is the greatest of all things, in the life of a believer. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, 36 (Amplified), "If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them), you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
Notice, Jesus tells us, "If we abide in His Word, which is Truth, you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." Jesus continues in Verse 36 saying, "So if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably free."
When we received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our freedom was a "done deal." There is no bondage that can overcome the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. So, why are so many in today's Church, still in bondage to so many things? The first part of the above scripture, is the key to freedom, where Jesus said, "If you abide (live) in My Word (hold fast to My teachings and live according to them)..."
The teachings of Jesus didn't stop at the end of the four Gospels. The four Gospels were actually Old Testament books and didn't become reality to us, until Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit. Since that time, Paul and others wrote other books of the Bible and these were the Words of Jesus.
Paul write in Galatians 1:11-12 (Amplified), "For I want you to know brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known to me is not a man's gospel (a human invention, according to or patterned after any human standard). For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a direct Revelation given by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
When we read Paul's Gospel, we're doing what Jesus said, and are "holding fast to His teachings and living in accordance with them." Jesus said that, when we do this, "Then we will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
Many things that Paul wrote in his Epistles, have been determined by carnal minds, to be "man's gospel and human invention." Anything man couldn't understand by his own understanding, was simply dismissed as being "not relevant for us today." We, then, haven't known the Truth, but a truth. The Truth will bring us into liberty in Christ Jesus, according to Romans 10:9 (Amplified) which says, "Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe, trust in, adhere to, and rely on the Truth that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Many have expressed faith in the Truth that God has raised Jesus from the dead and they've been saved. But, Truth goes beyond the Truth that Jesus was raised from the dead. This Truth has led you to become born-again, but now we're to abide in Him, in His teachings and this Truth will set us free. Weren't we set free, when we were born-again? Yes! But, do you know how to walk in this freedom, without knowing how to live in accordance to His teachings?
Understanding the Truth that has made you free, is the key to living in freedom and liberty. When we don't understand what a things is for, we nearly always abuse it. When we don't understand our liberty in Christ, we either abuse this liberty or allow someone else to dictate our liberty for us and this inherently translates into man's wisdom and bondage. Natural, carnal minded man can only understand truth according to this natural world and knowledge. If one can't explain it by natural means, then he dismisses it as "not being relevant for us today."
The first thing about understanding, is realizing that we're dealing in a Spiritual Truth and not a natural things. In order to understand Spiritual Truth, we must have a renewed mind. The natural man can't understand what education hasn't taught him. This is why Paul writes in Galatians 1:11-12 (Amplified), "For I want you to know brethren, that the Gospel which was proclaimed and made known by me, is not a man's gospel (a human invention, according or patterned after any human standards). For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it; but it came to me through a direct Revelation given by Jesus Christ (the Messiah)."
Jesus knows more about this new birth and this new creation people, than anyone and we must understand what Paul is saying about the Spiritual application of the Gospel. We're interpreted Grace by our own intellect and devised some pretty far-out things. We continue trying to bring the Spiritual aspects of the Gospel, into our natural understanding and by doing this, we've nearly removed God's ability to move in our natural world.
Not everyone will accept the Year of Understanding, just like those who didn't receive the things Jesus taught in His ministry. Some will cling to old traditions and religious teachings. Everything we've learned throughout the years, hasn't been wrong. Many things that we've been taught came from Revelation, but then men changed them according to natural understandings and lost sight of the Truth.
When God speaks about understanding, He's not referring simply to our knowing how to read. He's speaking about our perceiving in our spirit, the full Truth of His Word. Jesus told us 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."
How many of us have ever considered words to be Spirit and not just a means of communicating? It's true that words are part of communication, but we must also understand what Jesus was saying in the above scripture. Jesus told us in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)." Since God is Spirit and His Word is Spirit and we are Spirit (made in His Image and Likeness), we must put value on understanding His Word.
When Paul writes about the Revelation he received from Jesus, he is speaking to three different kinds of people. He's speaking to the natural man, those who are unsaved. He is speaking to those who are saved and haven't renewed their minds (are carnal minded people). And, Paul's speaking those those who have renewed their minds by understanding Spiritual things.
Paul writes in Romans 8:7,9 (Amplified), "That is because the mind of the flesh, with its carnal thought and purposes, is hostile to God for it does not submit itself to God's Law, indeed it cannot." He writes to those who are born-again in Verse 9 saying, "But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the Life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you, directs and controls you. But if anyone does not possess the Holy Spirit of Christ, he is none of His, he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God."
In 1Corinthians 3:1-3 (Amplified), Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, saying, "However Brethren, I could not talk to you as to spiritual men, but as to non-spiritual men of the flesh; in whom the carnal nature predominates, as to mere infants in the New Life in Christ (unable to talk yet). I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it; but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it. For you are still unspiritual (having the nature of the flesh, under the control of the ordinary impulses). For as long as there are envying, and jealousy and wranglings and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh (behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere unsaved men)?"
Paul called those who were wrangling and envying among themselves, "mere unsaved men." Paul said that this type of behavior comes from the lack of understanding spiritual things. The carnal mind is an enemy of God and it refuses to accept anything it can't understand in the natural, carnal, worldly explanations. Remember, we have been born-again, not be a natural seed, but One that is Spirit. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Lesson 132 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
"2019 will be the Year of Understanding," is the Word that came to me, while fellow shipping with the Lord. As in everything else the Lord has done, only those who believe will accept and receive His Word. Many believe that the ways of the Lord are beyond understanding, but that's not what His Word says.
There is much debate and misunderstanding about Isaiah 55:8-11 (Amplified). Some think this scripture shows the Lord "looking down" on us, because we're not as Wise as He is, but that's not the Truth. God tells us that He will reveal His Higher way to us. Thus, God says, "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. For as the rain and snow come down fro the heavens and returns not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth, it shall not return to Me void (without producing any effect, useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
The Lord invited us to enter into this higher way in Isaiah 1:18-19 (Amplified) saying, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If your are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the Lord."
God wants us to understand, know and walk in His ways and His thoughts, according to what Paul writes in Colossi ans 1:9-11 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it; have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things) That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord (fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things), bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
Without deliberate Revelation from and through the Holy Spirit, the only understanding we have of God's ways and purposes, come from the minds of men. Each thought he/she had an understanding of how and why things happen to and through God's people. The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write this in Colossi ans 1:13 (Amplified), "The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love." We know that, "All scripture is God-breathed and given by His Inspiration," according to 2Timothy 3:16, so what the scripture says about our deliverance, MUST BE TRUE.
We haven't understood God's ways and His way of doing and being right, so we continue walking in bondage. When God stated that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, He didn't mean that He wouldn't or couldn't show us His ways. Until we understand the Kingdom principles and how to walk in them, we still find ourselves trusting in man, instead of God. This Year of Understanding is going to require us to listen to and seek God's ways of doing and being right.
Throughout the years, we've devised our own ways of doing and being right. We could only walk in what we "thought" was God, because we lacked Spiritual understanding. We've established many ways of doing and being right and have tried making rules to guide our lives. Of course, we're to abstain from the things of the world, but this isn't all that God has called and anointed us to do or be.
If we don't understand the freedom our salvation has brought us, then it's difficult to live in that freedom and not return to the bondage of the world and satan. God has provided for the maintaining our liberty, but we've lacked the understanding of His provision. The Church has settled for "living the best we can and hope it'll be enough to get us to Heaven after we die." This is admirable and we should be living right and trying to please God, but Hebrews 11:6 says that, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Faith in what? Faith in God and His way of doing and being right.
God has His ways and now He is bringing us to understand them, by the Holy Spirit. It might not have been time for this understanding before, because there is a determined time for things to happen. There was a determined time for Jesus to be born and for the Holy Spirit to be poured out, but now is the time of understanding. It won't be simple, because we have determined our own understanding, like those before us. It's hard to turn loose of what we know, for something we don't know, but it has come to that time in God's plan.
Revelation comes into our spirit and not into our heads, so we will see understanding, before we know understanding, according to Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) which says, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed), of things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith), perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."
The Father has patiently awaited the time for the maturing of His family. When my sons were born, I could hardly wait for the time when I could take them hunting and fishing and fellowship with them on my level. I now want to fellowship with my Heavenly Father on His level, like Jesus and Paul did. It's an awesome thought to know Him and the power of His Resurrection.
Many of the teachings we've received in the past fifty years, have actually been the beginning of understanding that a few have received. Much has been rejected, mostly because of the time factor. Now is the time that God will bring these teaching back to His people, by Revelation and Truth and understanding.
Proverbs 3:15-23 (Amplified) says, "Skillful and Godly Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you can wish for is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are high ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold on her, and happy (Blessed, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who holds her fast. The Lord, by skillful and Godly Wisdom has founded the earth, by understanding He has established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies distill the dew. My son, let them not escape from your sight, but keep sound and Godly Wisdom and discernment And they will be Life to your inner self and a gracious ornament to your neck (your outer self) Then you will walk in your way securely and in confident trust and you shall not dash your foot or stumble."
Verse 19 says that, "By understanding, God has established the heavens" and "He will show us His ways, by our understanding through the Holy Spirit." In Psalm 25:14 (Amplified) we find one of the reasons David was so close to God. Thus, it says, "The secret of the sweet satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who revere and worship Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its deep inner meanings."
"2019 will be the Year of Understanding," is the Word that came to me, while fellow shipping with the Lord. As in everything else the Lord has done, only those who believe will accept and receive His Word. Many believe that the ways of the Lord are beyond understanding, but that's not what His Word says.
There is much debate and misunderstanding about Isaiah 55:8-11 (Amplified). Some think this scripture shows the Lord "looking down" on us, because we're not as Wise as He is, but that's not the Truth. God tells us that He will reveal His Higher way to us. Thus, God says, "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. For as the rain and snow come down fro the heavens and returns not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth, it shall not return to Me void (without producing any effect, useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
The Lord invited us to enter into this higher way in Isaiah 1:18-19 (Amplified) saying, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If your are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the Lord."
God wants us to understand, know and walk in His ways and His thoughts, according to what Paul writes in Colossi ans 1:9-11 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it; have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things) That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord (fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things), bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
Without deliberate Revelation from and through the Holy Spirit, the only understanding we have of God's ways and purposes, come from the minds of men. Each thought he/she had an understanding of how and why things happen to and through God's people. The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write this in Colossi ans 1:13 (Amplified), "The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love." We know that, "All scripture is God-breathed and given by His Inspiration," according to 2Timothy 3:16, so what the scripture says about our deliverance, MUST BE TRUE.
We haven't understood God's ways and His way of doing and being right, so we continue walking in bondage. When God stated that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, He didn't mean that He wouldn't or couldn't show us His ways. Until we understand the Kingdom principles and how to walk in them, we still find ourselves trusting in man, instead of God. This Year of Understanding is going to require us to listen to and seek God's ways of doing and being right.
Throughout the years, we've devised our own ways of doing and being right. We could only walk in what we "thought" was God, because we lacked Spiritual understanding. We've established many ways of doing and being right and have tried making rules to guide our lives. Of course, we're to abstain from the things of the world, but this isn't all that God has called and anointed us to do or be.
If we don't understand the freedom our salvation has brought us, then it's difficult to live in that freedom and not return to the bondage of the world and satan. God has provided for the maintaining our liberty, but we've lacked the understanding of His provision. The Church has settled for "living the best we can and hope it'll be enough to get us to Heaven after we die." This is admirable and we should be living right and trying to please God, but Hebrews 11:6 says that, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Faith in what? Faith in God and His way of doing and being right.
God has His ways and now He is bringing us to understand them, by the Holy Spirit. It might not have been time for this understanding before, because there is a determined time for things to happen. There was a determined time for Jesus to be born and for the Holy Spirit to be poured out, but now is the time of understanding. It won't be simple, because we have determined our own understanding, like those before us. It's hard to turn loose of what we know, for something we don't know, but it has come to that time in God's plan.
Revelation comes into our spirit and not into our heads, so we will see understanding, before we know understanding, according to Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) which says, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed), of things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith), perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."
The Father has patiently awaited the time for the maturing of His family. When my sons were born, I could hardly wait for the time when I could take them hunting and fishing and fellowship with them on my level. I now want to fellowship with my Heavenly Father on His level, like Jesus and Paul did. It's an awesome thought to know Him and the power of His Resurrection.
Many of the teachings we've received in the past fifty years, have actually been the beginning of understanding that a few have received. Much has been rejected, mostly because of the time factor. Now is the time that God will bring these teaching back to His people, by Revelation and Truth and understanding.
Proverbs 3:15-23 (Amplified) says, "Skillful and Godly Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you can wish for is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are high ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold on her, and happy (Blessed, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who holds her fast. The Lord, by skillful and Godly Wisdom has founded the earth, by understanding He has established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies distill the dew. My son, let them not escape from your sight, but keep sound and Godly Wisdom and discernment And they will be Life to your inner self and a gracious ornament to your neck (your outer self) Then you will walk in your way securely and in confident trust and you shall not dash your foot or stumble."
Verse 19 says that, "By understanding, God has established the heavens" and "He will show us His ways, by our understanding through the Holy Spirit." In Psalm 25:14 (Amplified) we find one of the reasons David was so close to God. Thus, it says, "The secret of the sweet satisfying companionship of the Lord have they who revere and worship Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its deep inner meanings."
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Lesson 131 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
The Lord has revealed to me that this will be the "Year of Understanding." I was initially confused about this, asking Him, "Lord, there are people being born-again all over the earth, don't they understand the Word when they hear it?" I'm trusting what the Lord told me and wish to share it with you.
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom, skillful and Godly Wisdom! For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you received Wisdom. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus. Whom God made our Wisdom from God; revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine 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."
This is a Wisdom that was once hidden from the world and mankind. It's now revealed to us, concerning Wisdom, Righteousness, Consecration Redemption and Life, through Jesus and salvation in Him. When we received Jesus, we received Wisdom, because He is the Word of God. What we failed to receive is understanding. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 2:5 (Amplified), "So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God." God's power is released only through the Wisdom of God. Without understanding, we really don't know how to walk in Wisdom and power, on this earth. God's Word is Wisdom, but when we lack understanding of it, it remains dormant inside us.
God's Word tells us some of the things Wisdom does when we understand it with God's understanding. Thus, Proverbs 4:11-13,20-27,5 (Amplified) says, "I have taught you in the way of skillful and Godly Wisdom, which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God. I have led you in paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps shall not be hampered, your path will be clear and open, and when you run, you shall not stumble Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go, guard her (Wisdom) for she is your Life."
Verses 20-27 tell us that, "Wisdom will heal and bring health to all our flesh" and that "Out of a heart (spirit) of understanding, Wisdom will guard us, heal us, protect us, and out of Wisdom, with understanding in our heart, we can keep our hearts." In Verse 5 God says, "Get skillful and Godly Wisdom, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation, do not forget and do not turn back from the Words of My mouth."
Many have "heard" Wisdom concerning healing and health, but haven't understood it, so when trials come, they forgot and turned back to man's wisdom. We have Wisdom, but we lack understanding. We have more proficiency when it comes to man's wisdom, than we do in understanding God's Wisdom. We haven't sought the Holy Spirit for understanding God's Wisdom and for the things that Wisdom provides for what God has called us to do. God says in Proverbs 5:1-2 (Amplified), "My son, be attentive to My Wisdom (Godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience), and incline your ear to My understanding, of what is becoming and prudent for you That you may experience proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer to temptation."
We haven't had understanding revealed to us throughout the years, because we've been taught man's wisdom instead of God's Wisdom. We've heard teachings about the "words of our mouth," but we've dismissed much of it as being "foolishness and error," because we lacked understanding. This is Wisdom without understanding. Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4. Only some received understanding of the Wisdom of the Kingdom, that Jesus was speaking about. We missed the point Jesus made about "Words being seeds," because we lacked understanding.
Today's Church has been undergoing much turmoil because we've lacked maturity and because we haven't had the understanding of Wisdom. It's not because God's Word doesn't work, like many would say. Jesus had understanding and used Wisdom to do all God sent Him here to do. Jesus used Words, that were released with understanding, so that His Words did exactly what He sent them to do.
Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) says, "By faith, we understand that the worlds during the successive ages, were formed (fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose) by the Word of God, So that what we see was not made out of things which are visible."
The understanding of God's Wisdom that created the world, is understood by our faith. What created the heavens and the earth? It was the Word. God's Wisdom was released by His Word and when Wisdom is understood by God's children, we begin to release working Wisdom by faith, in our understanding. We already have God's Word and His Wisdom. We already have the Holy Spirit, but we've lack the understanding of how they work.
We've heard many teachings on faith, but many have dismissed these teachings as being foolishness. Faith works all the time. God spoke all things into existence by faith. We have faith and were "saved by Grace, through faith," according to Ephesians 2:8. We've been given Wisdom, according to 1Corinthians 1:30 and we've been made a new creation people, according to 2Corinthians 5:17. What then is lacking in our lives here on earth? Lack of understanding.
In John 16:13-14 (Amplified), just prior to His Ascension, Jesus said, "But when He (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will Guide you into all the Truth (the whole, 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 give the Message that He has been given to Him); and He will announce and declare to you all things that are to come (that will happen in the future). He will honor and Glorify Me, because He will take of, receive, draw upon what is Mine and will reveal, disclose, declare, transmit it to you."
Jesus states it like this, in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at, strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right)." This is the Mystery of understanding God's way of doing and being right. Remember, Jesus told us in John 16:13-14 that, "When the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will Guide you into ALL the Truth (the full, whole Truth)."
In this Year of Understanding, the Holy Spirit will Guide us and reveal to us the things that have been a Mystery until now to us, so that we will know God's way of doing and being right. The Holy Spirit will disclose and transmit this understanding to "Those who have ears to hear." Not everyone will hear, because we must strive after and seek "FIRST OF ALL, His way of doing and being right." We must allow the Seed of God's Word to speak to us.
Jesus said in Mark 4:22-23 (Amplified), "With all of your getting, get understanding." Thus, He says, "Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to Revelation For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything temporarily kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend."
In Ephesians 1:17-19 (Amplified) Paul says, "For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that He may grant you a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation (of insight into the mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him) By having the eyes of your heart flooded with Light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His Glorious inheritance in the saints (His set apart ones). And so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength."
Happy New Year, Jim.
The Lord has revealed to me that this will be the "Year of Understanding." I was initially confused about this, asking Him, "Lord, there are people being born-again all over the earth, don't they understand the Word when they hear it?" I'm trusting what the Lord told me and wish to share it with you.
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom, skillful and Godly Wisdom! For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you received Wisdom. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus. Whom God made our Wisdom from God; revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine 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."
This is a Wisdom that was once hidden from the world and mankind. It's now revealed to us, concerning Wisdom, Righteousness, Consecration Redemption and Life, through Jesus and salvation in Him. When we received Jesus, we received Wisdom, because He is the Word of God. What we failed to receive is understanding. Paul writes in 1Corinthians 2:5 (Amplified), "So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God." God's power is released only through the Wisdom of God. Without understanding, we really don't know how to walk in Wisdom and power, on this earth. God's Word is Wisdom, but when we lack understanding of it, it remains dormant inside us.
God's Word tells us some of the things Wisdom does when we understand it with God's understanding. Thus, Proverbs 4:11-13,20-27,5 (Amplified) says, "I have taught you in the way of skillful and Godly Wisdom, which is comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God. I have led you in paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps shall not be hampered, your path will be clear and open, and when you run, you shall not stumble Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go, guard her (Wisdom) for she is your Life."
Verses 20-27 tell us that, "Wisdom will heal and bring health to all our flesh" and that "Out of a heart (spirit) of understanding, Wisdom will guard us, heal us, protect us, and out of Wisdom, with understanding in our heart, we can keep our hearts." In Verse 5 God says, "Get skillful and Godly Wisdom, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation, do not forget and do not turn back from the Words of My mouth."
Many have "heard" Wisdom concerning healing and health, but haven't understood it, so when trials come, they forgot and turned back to man's wisdom. We have Wisdom, but we lack understanding. We have more proficiency when it comes to man's wisdom, than we do in understanding God's Wisdom. We haven't sought the Holy Spirit for understanding God's Wisdom and for the things that Wisdom provides for what God has called us to do. God says in Proverbs 5:1-2 (Amplified), "My son, be attentive to My Wisdom (Godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience), and incline your ear to My understanding, of what is becoming and prudent for you That you may experience proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer to temptation."
We haven't had understanding revealed to us throughout the years, because we've been taught man's wisdom instead of God's Wisdom. We've heard teachings about the "words of our mouth," but we've dismissed much of it as being "foolishness and error," because we lacked understanding. This is Wisdom without understanding. Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4. Only some received understanding of the Wisdom of the Kingdom, that Jesus was speaking about. We missed the point Jesus made about "Words being seeds," because we lacked understanding.
Today's Church has been undergoing much turmoil because we've lacked maturity and because we haven't had the understanding of Wisdom. It's not because God's Word doesn't work, like many would say. Jesus had understanding and used Wisdom to do all God sent Him here to do. Jesus used Words, that were released with understanding, so that His Words did exactly what He sent them to do.
Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) says, "By faith, we understand that the worlds during the successive ages, were formed (fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose) by the Word of God, So that what we see was not made out of things which are visible."
The understanding of God's Wisdom that created the world, is understood by our faith. What created the heavens and the earth? It was the Word. God's Wisdom was released by His Word and when Wisdom is understood by God's children, we begin to release working Wisdom by faith, in our understanding. We already have God's Word and His Wisdom. We already have the Holy Spirit, but we've lack the understanding of how they work.
We've heard many teachings on faith, but many have dismissed these teachings as being foolishness. Faith works all the time. God spoke all things into existence by faith. We have faith and were "saved by Grace, through faith," according to Ephesians 2:8. We've been given Wisdom, according to 1Corinthians 1:30 and we've been made a new creation people, according to 2Corinthians 5:17. What then is lacking in our lives here on earth? Lack of understanding.
In John 16:13-14 (Amplified), just prior to His Ascension, Jesus said, "But when He (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will Guide you into all the Truth (the whole, 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 give the Message that He has been given to Him); and He will announce and declare to you all things that are to come (that will happen in the future). He will honor and Glorify Me, because He will take of, receive, draw upon what is Mine and will reveal, disclose, declare, transmit it to you."
Jesus states it like this, in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at, strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right)." This is the Mystery of understanding God's way of doing and being right. Remember, Jesus told us in John 16:13-14 that, "When the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will Guide you into ALL the Truth (the full, whole Truth)."
In this Year of Understanding, the Holy Spirit will Guide us and reveal to us the things that have been a Mystery until now to us, so that we will know God's way of doing and being right. The Holy Spirit will disclose and transmit this understanding to "Those who have ears to hear." Not everyone will hear, because we must strive after and seek "FIRST OF ALL, His way of doing and being right." We must allow the Seed of God's Word to speak to us.
Jesus said in Mark 4:22-23 (Amplified), "With all of your getting, get understanding." Thus, He says, "Things are hidden temporarily only as a means to Revelation For there is nothing hidden except to be revealed, nor is anything temporarily kept secret except in order that it may be made known. If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend."
In Ephesians 1:17-19 (Amplified) Paul says, "For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, that He may grant you a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation (of insight into the mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him) By having the eyes of your heart flooded with Light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His Glorious inheritance in the saints (His set apart ones). And so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength."
Happy New Year, Jim.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Lesson 130 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Many of us in the Body of Christ, have never come to the real understanding of who and what we've become in Jesus. We've been saved and born-again, but have little knowledge of what this means in our lives. Jesus told us in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)."
How do we worship in Spirit and Truth or reality? What is the Truth or reality, in the Spirit realm? Are there realities in the Spirit, that we don't know or understand? Are some of the things we accept in Christianity really Truth or are they tradition? John 8:31-32,36 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings) and live according with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." He continues in Verse 36, saying, "So if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably free."
Paul writes in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "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."
Recall being in history class and learning about the Emancipation Proclamation that came after the Civil War ended, whereby the slaves were set free. Since this Proclamation was enforced and put into motion, those who had been held captive and were in bondage, were suddenly free. There had been certain laws established in America, that made it unlawful to teach a slave to read or write, so most of the slaves were unable to do so.
Many of the slaves brought here from other countries, couldn't even speak English. Generations weren't only sold into slavery, but were born into it. These people were suddenly made free and were on their own in life. Freedom was theirs. However, most of these people had no education, couldn't read or write, owned no land or had a house to live in, and had no money of their own. They only had what the master or their previous owner had allowed them to possess. What on earth were they expected to do with their freedom?
Sadly, many had no choice except to return to the plantation of their former owner. They didn't do so because they weren't free, but because they had no provisions of their own. It wasn't because they weren't as smart as others, but because they didn't know how to walk in and maintain their freedom. They only knew what the previous owner had allowed them to know.
Jesus said, "Whosoever the Son sets free is free indeed." When we get born-again, we don't know about the Laws that govern Heaven or God's Kingdom. We've never been taught how to maintain the freedom that Jesus brought us, by previous generations. We only know the things our previous owner, satan and the world, allowed us to know. How do we live, now that we're born-again and are free from satan's bondage and he has no right to us? Do we do like many of the slaves who were freed with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and go back to what we know from our previous master? Do we continue serving our old master, because we don't know how to function as free people? Many of the former slaves returned to picking cotton, planting tobacco and living under the same bondage. Even though they were now free, they didn't know how to maintain their new found freedom.
Today, many in the Church are doing the same thing and have returned to the world. They're not doing this because they're not free, but because they don't know how to live any other way. Paul calls this the "carnal Church." We are Spiritually free, but still living under the carnal, fleshly way of life. Many of the former slaves, set out to learn, grow and maintain their freedom. They became great teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, inventors and leader, because they sought what would KEEP THEM FREE.
Freedom isn't freedom, until you're free. Even though this is Truth, it's still unknown. Jesus said in John 8:32 (Amplified), "And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you FREE." This tells us that we must set our minds and hearts towards knowing the Truth! How can we walk in this freedom, if we don't know what will keep us free? We will learn from God's Word and the Holy Spirit ,the things that will set us free. We learn that our sin is forgiven and that is Truth, but now that this part of the Truth has been revealed to us, how do we maintain this Truth? Obviously, we should now adjust our lives and put a check on how we live our lives, but what about the rest of the Truth?
James 1:25 (Amplified) tells us that God's Word is the "Perfect, faultless Law of liberty," saying, "But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
Simply being a heedless hearer, will not bring about the liberty in our lives, even though the liberty belongs to us already. If you're born-again, then you're free, just like the slaves at the Emancipation Proclamation were free. But, if you don't learn how to live free, then you'll go back into the bondage were in, even if you're voicing your freedom. Some even blame the One Who set them free, saying that "God still wants to see us in bondage."
If you were born in America, then you were born a citizen of America. The freedom we live in here, was yours at birth, but as you grow up, you are responsible to maintain that freedom. Through the years, we haven't been taught how to maintain our freedom and have therefore, lost some of them. God says in Isaiah 55:8-11 (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. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My Word be that goes out of My mouth, it shall not return to My void, without producing any effect (useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
God's thoughts and ways are higher than our thoughts and ways. God said that His ways and thought are higher than ours, but He didn't say that we can't learn His thoughts and ways. In order to maintain our freedom, we must learn to do what Jesus instructed in John 8, where He said, "Abide in My Word and teaching and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
1Corinthians 2:9-12 (Amplified) says, "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 ready and keeps ready) for those who love Him and 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 (His ways and thoughts) Isaiah 55:8-11. For what person perceives (knows, understands) what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so, no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world, but the Holy Spirit Who is from God given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the Gifts of Divine favor and Blessing so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God."
We have been given access to God's ways and His thoughts of being free, but we must seek Him in Spirit and Truth and reality to learn and maintain them. We must not return to bondage, but we must seek God's way of being free.
Many of us in the Body of Christ, have never come to the real understanding of who and what we've become in Jesus. We've been saved and born-again, but have little knowledge of what this means in our lives. Jesus told us in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)."
How do we worship in Spirit and Truth or reality? What is the Truth or reality, in the Spirit realm? Are there realities in the Spirit, that we don't know or understand? Are some of the things we accept in Christianity really Truth or are they tradition? John 8:31-32,36 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings) and live according with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free." He continues in Verse 36, saying, "So if the Son liberates you (makes you free men), then you are really and unquestionably free."
Paul writes in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "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."
Recall being in history class and learning about the Emancipation Proclamation that came after the Civil War ended, whereby the slaves were set free. Since this Proclamation was enforced and put into motion, those who had been held captive and were in bondage, were suddenly free. There had been certain laws established in America, that made it unlawful to teach a slave to read or write, so most of the slaves were unable to do so.
Many of the slaves brought here from other countries, couldn't even speak English. Generations weren't only sold into slavery, but were born into it. These people were suddenly made free and were on their own in life. Freedom was theirs. However, most of these people had no education, couldn't read or write, owned no land or had a house to live in, and had no money of their own. They only had what the master or their previous owner had allowed them to possess. What on earth were they expected to do with their freedom?
Sadly, many had no choice except to return to the plantation of their former owner. They didn't do so because they weren't free, but because they had no provisions of their own. It wasn't because they weren't as smart as others, but because they didn't know how to walk in and maintain their freedom. They only knew what the previous owner had allowed them to know.
Jesus said, "Whosoever the Son sets free is free indeed." When we get born-again, we don't know about the Laws that govern Heaven or God's Kingdom. We've never been taught how to maintain the freedom that Jesus brought us, by previous generations. We only know the things our previous owner, satan and the world, allowed us to know. How do we live, now that we're born-again and are free from satan's bondage and he has no right to us? Do we do like many of the slaves who were freed with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and go back to what we know from our previous master? Do we continue serving our old master, because we don't know how to function as free people? Many of the former slaves returned to picking cotton, planting tobacco and living under the same bondage. Even though they were now free, they didn't know how to maintain their new found freedom.
Today, many in the Church are doing the same thing and have returned to the world. They're not doing this because they're not free, but because they don't know how to live any other way. Paul calls this the "carnal Church." We are Spiritually free, but still living under the carnal, fleshly way of life. Many of the former slaves, set out to learn, grow and maintain their freedom. They became great teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, inventors and leader, because they sought what would KEEP THEM FREE.
Freedom isn't freedom, until you're free. Even though this is Truth, it's still unknown. Jesus said in John 8:32 (Amplified), "And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you FREE." This tells us that we must set our minds and hearts towards knowing the Truth! How can we walk in this freedom, if we don't know what will keep us free? We will learn from God's Word and the Holy Spirit ,the things that will set us free. We learn that our sin is forgiven and that is Truth, but now that this part of the Truth has been revealed to us, how do we maintain this Truth? Obviously, we should now adjust our lives and put a check on how we live our lives, but what about the rest of the Truth?
James 1:25 (Amplified) tells us that God's Word is the "Perfect, faultless Law of liberty," saying, "But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
Simply being a heedless hearer, will not bring about the liberty in our lives, even though the liberty belongs to us already. If you're born-again, then you're free, just like the slaves at the Emancipation Proclamation were free. But, if you don't learn how to live free, then you'll go back into the bondage were in, even if you're voicing your freedom. Some even blame the One Who set them free, saying that "God still wants to see us in bondage."
If you were born in America, then you were born a citizen of America. The freedom we live in here, was yours at birth, but as you grow up, you are responsible to maintain that freedom. Through the years, we haven't been taught how to maintain our freedom and have therefore, lost some of them. God says in Isaiah 55:8-11 (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. For as the rain and snow come down from the heavens and return not there again, but water the earth and make it bring forth and sprout, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My Word be that goes out of My mouth, it shall not return to My void, without producing any effect (useless), but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
God's thoughts and ways are higher than our thoughts and ways. God said that His ways and thought are higher than ours, but He didn't say that we can't learn His thoughts and ways. In order to maintain our freedom, we must learn to do what Jesus instructed in John 8, where He said, "Abide in My Word and teaching and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
1Corinthians 2:9-12 (Amplified) says, "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 ready and keeps ready) for those who love Him and 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 (His ways and thoughts) Isaiah 55:8-11. For what person perceives (knows, understands) what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so, no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world, but the Holy Spirit Who is from God given to us that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the Gifts of Divine favor and Blessing so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God."
We have been given access to God's ways and His thoughts of being free, but we must seek Him in Spirit and Truth and reality to learn and maintain them. We must not return to bondage, but we must seek God's way of being free.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Lesson 129 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
The calendar denotes Christmas is over for another year, but the new covenant believers of Jesus Christ, are looking to the future for the coming Messiah, just like the Jews were looking for the Messiah in the old covenant. Today, the Church looks for the future time of His Promised coming. Like the old covenant people, some have given up on His coming, because they've been told so many times that, "Jesus is coming tomorrow or next week." Many have decided that it's already done.
In 2Thessalonians 2:1-2 (Amplified) Paul tells us, "But relative to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and our gathering together to meet Him, we beg you brethren Not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether it be by some pretended revelation of the Spirit of by word or by letter alleged to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has already arrived and is here."
Before Jesus birth in Bethlehem, many believed the Messiah had already come or were told that someone else was the Messiah. Many believed that they were living in the reign of the Messiah already, even then. Many in today's Church, have given up on the second coming of Jesus. His first coming was as a Lamb, born in a manger to be our Sacrifice and cleansing before God. He will come the second time as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and as our Lord of Lords and King of kings.
When we still hope, awaiting in faith and expecting our Lord's appearing, then we are living by His Life and by His faith to become what He has Promised. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified), "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, And their teaching will devour; it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene, so it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus Who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the Resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some."
Like those in the old covenant did before Christ was born in Bethlehem, we are still looking forward to the coming of the Lord, when He returns in all of His Glory. Christmas is an ongoing thing in today's Church. Jesus came the first time, as our Sacrifice and Substitute. He is coming the second time, as Lord of All, according to Hebrews 9:28 (Amplified) which says, "Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin, nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are eagerly, constantly, and patiently waiting for and expecting Him."
We must not simply look at Christmas, as the long-awaited for coming of the Lord. We have become the new creation family of God by partaking in Jesus' Sacrifice and we look forward by faith and hope to His appearing a second time, for our full salvation. Many Truths from God's Word have been overlooked or disregarded today. The Holy Spirit is bringing these things back into focus for the Church. We can't be reluctant to look beyond tradition or to stand against false words that some have brought.
Many might believe that these things have little importance, but Jesus' coming is spoken of in almost every letter of the New Testament. At Jesus' ascension, the angels spoke of Jesus' second coming long before Paul or anyone else did. This wasn't a man-made doctrine, but came from God's Messengers (the angels). Acts 1:10-11 (Amplified) says, "And while they were gazing intently into Heaven as He went, behold, two men dressed in white robes suddenly stood beside them, who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into Heaven? This Same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into Heaven, will return in just the same way in which you saw Him go into Heaven."
John writes these encouraging Words in 1John 3:2-3 (Amplified), "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear), what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall, as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is. And everyone who has this hope resting on Him, cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure, chaste, undefiled, guiltless."
Christmas is still coming to those of us, who set our hope and faith in His return. We will never reach our full potential, until that time, according to Revelations 1:4,7 (Amplified), which tells us, "John to the seven assemblies (churches) that are in Asia; May Grace (God's unmerited favor) be granted to you, and Spiritual Peace (the Peace of Christ's Kingdom), from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come, and from the seven Spirits, the seven-fold Holy Spirit before His Throne." Verse 7 goes on, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him."
The calendar denotes Christmas is over for another year, but the new covenant believers of Jesus Christ, are looking to the future for the coming Messiah, just like the Jews were looking for the Messiah in the old covenant. Today, the Church looks for the future time of His Promised coming. Like the old covenant people, some have given up on His coming, because they've been told so many times that, "Jesus is coming tomorrow or next week." Many have decided that it's already done.
In 2Thessalonians 2:1-2 (Amplified) Paul tells us, "But relative to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and our gathering together to meet Him, we beg you brethren Not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether it be by some pretended revelation of the Spirit of by word or by letter alleged to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has already arrived and is here."
Before Jesus birth in Bethlehem, many believed the Messiah had already come or were told that someone else was the Messiah. Many believed that they were living in the reign of the Messiah already, even then. Many in today's Church, have given up on the second coming of Jesus. His first coming was as a Lamb, born in a manger to be our Sacrifice and cleansing before God. He will come the second time as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and as our Lord of Lords and King of kings.
When we still hope, awaiting in faith and expecting our Lord's appearing, then we are living by His Life and by His faith to become what He has Promised. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:15-18 (Amplified), "But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, And their teaching will devour; it will eat its way like cancer or spread like gangrene, so it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus Who have missed the mark and swerved from the Truth by arguing that the Resurrection has already taken place. They are undermining the faith of some."
Like those in the old covenant did before Christ was born in Bethlehem, we are still looking forward to the coming of the Lord, when He returns in all of His Glory. Christmas is an ongoing thing in today's Church. Jesus came the first time, as our Sacrifice and Substitute. He is coming the second time, as Lord of All, according to Hebrews 9:28 (Amplified) which says, "Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin, nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are eagerly, constantly, and patiently waiting for and expecting Him."
We must not simply look at Christmas, as the long-awaited for coming of the Lord. We have become the new creation family of God by partaking in Jesus' Sacrifice and we look forward by faith and hope to His appearing a second time, for our full salvation. Many Truths from God's Word have been overlooked or disregarded today. The Holy Spirit is bringing these things back into focus for the Church. We can't be reluctant to look beyond tradition or to stand against false words that some have brought.
Many might believe that these things have little importance, but Jesus' coming is spoken of in almost every letter of the New Testament. At Jesus' ascension, the angels spoke of Jesus' second coming long before Paul or anyone else did. This wasn't a man-made doctrine, but came from God's Messengers (the angels). Acts 1:10-11 (Amplified) says, "And while they were gazing intently into Heaven as He went, behold, two men dressed in white robes suddenly stood beside them, who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into Heaven? This Same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into Heaven, will return in just the same way in which you saw Him go into Heaven."
John writes these encouraging Words in 1John 3:2-3 (Amplified), "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear), what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall, as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is. And everyone who has this hope resting on Him, cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure, chaste, undefiled, guiltless."
Christmas is still coming to those of us, who set our hope and faith in His return. We will never reach our full potential, until that time, according to Revelations 1:4,7 (Amplified), which tells us, "John to the seven assemblies (churches) that are in Asia; May Grace (God's unmerited favor) be granted to you, and Spiritual Peace (the Peace of Christ's Kingdom), from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come, and from the seven Spirits, the seven-fold Holy Spirit before His Throne." Verse 7 goes on, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds and every eye will see Him."
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Lesson 128 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
To those who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christmas holiday is over and they're preparing for the New Year. The believer knows that just because we celebrated December 25th as Jesus' birth, the end of the Promise of a Savior has just begun. The Promise of Jesus' birth is what the world celebrated, while the Promise of His fulfilling is still unfolding.
Jesus walked among men on this earth for thirty years, but He couldn't fulfill the Law and begin His Priestly ministry until He was thirty. Luke 3:22-23,50 (Amplified) says, "And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from Heaven saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight. Jesus Himself, when He began His ministry was about thirty years of age."
Until the appointed time of His earthly ministry, there is no evidence found in God's Word that shows Jesus was looked upon as being anything other than just an ordinary man among men. We do find proof in Luke 2:49 (Amplified) that Jesus was in the Temple, both hearing and answering things about God's Word. Thus, it says, "And He said to [Joseph and Mary who were looking for Him], How is it that you had to look for Me? Did you not see and know that it would be necessary as a duty for Me to be in My Father's house and occupied at My Father's business." I always marvel at Verse 50 which says, "But they did not comprehend what He was saying to them."
Even after the Angel appeared and spoke to Mary, and even after the Angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt, they didn't comprehend Jesus' True Identity. Jesus was "just another boy," to most of the people who grew up around Him. Isn't it strange how soon we can get preoccupied and consumed with everyday life, and forget what God has done?
Many believe that Christmas was the fulfillment of God's Promise about a Savior, but believers know that it is just the beginning of the Promise. We know that, "In Jesus, all the Promises of God are Yes and Amen, in Him to the Glory of God. In 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) Paul writes, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
When Jesus was born, the Promises were activated for all who would believe in Him. These include healing, salvation, the righteousness, the justification, and the new creation birth, as well as the restoration of being God's Own children. Those who had been looking forward by faith, at His coming, had no idea of His fullness. We can look back today and see the fulfillment of Jesus' birth, but we also have the hope and look forward to His complete work. This Blessed Hope, is the faith we now walk in. Hebrews 11:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."
We're looking forward to another Promise that the angels brought, just like they did. Acts 1:9-11 (Amplified) says, "And when He had said this, even as they were looking at Him, He was caught up and a cloud received and carried Him away out of their sight. And while they were gazing intently into Heaven as He went, behold, two men dressed in white robes suddenly stood beside them, Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into Heaven? This Same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into Heaven, will return in just the same way in which you saw Him go into Heaven."
Just like those in Bethlehem before Jesus' birth, we're looking into the future Promise of His coming. It's true that we can know many things surround His soon coming, by looking through the Word, but Paul said that we're "looking through a glass dimly," 1Corithians 13:12 (Amplified) says, "For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection of reality as in a riddle or enigma, but then, when perfection comes, we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood by God."
We have so much to learn and understand about the Blessed event of Jesus' birth. His birth wasn't the end of our seeking the Messiah, but it was the beginning. Jesus walked in His earthly ministry, He was crucified, He was resurrected from the dead and taken into His Father's Presence at the Ascension, there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the revelation of the new birth with son-ship rights and we've yet to see the fullness of Jesus' return, with the finality of the Age and the completion of the Promise to us, through Jesus.
We continue arguing over what Jesus did, can do and whether or not it's for us today, like those of old. Even in the Light of the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and the down payment of the Promises, we're like them and are waiting in faith in the Promise and what it means in our lives. The people clung to their own works of the Law and their traditions, even while Jesus began revealing Himself as Messiah. They dismissed the very thing they looked for, for centuries.
What part of the Promise of Messiah was true? To them, only certain things. What part of the Promise is true for us today? Still only certain parts or like Paul said, "The Promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus, to the Glory of God?" Do you realize that it brings Glory to God, when we receive by faith, the Promises He gave through Jesus? God's not upset when we accept the Blessing of Abraham, given to Jesus, the See. It brings Glory to God, when we accept our healing by faith in what He Promises us about Jesus in Isaiah 53,54,55. This isn't super faith, but it's simply faith in God's Promise, which is Jesus Himself.
These were still Promises in the Old Testament, but they're no longer just Promise in the new covenant. They are fact and Truth.
To those who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christmas holiday is over and they're preparing for the New Year. The believer knows that just because we celebrated December 25th as Jesus' birth, the end of the Promise of a Savior has just begun. The Promise of Jesus' birth is what the world celebrated, while the Promise of His fulfilling is still unfolding.
Jesus walked among men on this earth for thirty years, but He couldn't fulfill the Law and begin His Priestly ministry until He was thirty. Luke 3:22-23,50 (Amplified) says, "And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from Heaven saying, You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight. Jesus Himself, when He began His ministry was about thirty years of age."
Until the appointed time of His earthly ministry, there is no evidence found in God's Word that shows Jesus was looked upon as being anything other than just an ordinary man among men. We do find proof in Luke 2:49 (Amplified) that Jesus was in the Temple, both hearing and answering things about God's Word. Thus, it says, "And He said to [Joseph and Mary who were looking for Him], How is it that you had to look for Me? Did you not see and know that it would be necessary as a duty for Me to be in My Father's house and occupied at My Father's business." I always marvel at Verse 50 which says, "But they did not comprehend what He was saying to them."
Even after the Angel appeared and spoke to Mary, and even after the Angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt, they didn't comprehend Jesus' True Identity. Jesus was "just another boy," to most of the people who grew up around Him. Isn't it strange how soon we can get preoccupied and consumed with everyday life, and forget what God has done?
Many believe that Christmas was the fulfillment of God's Promise about a Savior, but believers know that it is just the beginning of the Promise. We know that, "In Jesus, all the Promises of God are Yes and Amen, in Him to the Glory of God. In 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) Paul writes, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
When Jesus was born, the Promises were activated for all who would believe in Him. These include healing, salvation, the righteousness, the justification, and the new creation birth, as well as the restoration of being God's Own children. Those who had been looking forward by faith, at His coming, had no idea of His fullness. We can look back today and see the fulfillment of Jesus' birth, but we also have the hope and look forward to His complete work. This Blessed Hope, is the faith we now walk in. Hebrews 11:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for."
We're looking forward to another Promise that the angels brought, just like they did. Acts 1:9-11 (Amplified) says, "And when He had said this, even as they were looking at Him, He was caught up and a cloud received and carried Him away out of their sight. And while they were gazing intently into Heaven as He went, behold, two men dressed in white robes suddenly stood beside them, Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into Heaven? This Same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into Heaven, will return in just the same way in which you saw Him go into Heaven."
Just like those in Bethlehem before Jesus' birth, we're looking into the future Promise of His coming. It's true that we can know many things surround His soon coming, by looking through the Word, but Paul said that we're "looking through a glass dimly," 1Corithians 13:12 (Amplified) says, "For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection of reality as in a riddle or enigma, but then, when perfection comes, we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood by God."
We have so much to learn and understand about the Blessed event of Jesus' birth. His birth wasn't the end of our seeking the Messiah, but it was the beginning. Jesus walked in His earthly ministry, He was crucified, He was resurrected from the dead and taken into His Father's Presence at the Ascension, there was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the revelation of the new birth with son-ship rights and we've yet to see the fullness of Jesus' return, with the finality of the Age and the completion of the Promise to us, through Jesus.
We continue arguing over what Jesus did, can do and whether or not it's for us today, like those of old. Even in the Light of the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and the down payment of the Promises, we're like them and are waiting in faith in the Promise and what it means in our lives. The people clung to their own works of the Law and their traditions, even while Jesus began revealing Himself as Messiah. They dismissed the very thing they looked for, for centuries.
What part of the Promise of Messiah was true? To them, only certain things. What part of the Promise is true for us today? Still only certain parts or like Paul said, "The Promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus, to the Glory of God?" Do you realize that it brings Glory to God, when we receive by faith, the Promises He gave through Jesus? God's not upset when we accept the Blessing of Abraham, given to Jesus, the See. It brings Glory to God, when we accept our healing by faith in what He Promises us about Jesus in Isaiah 53,54,55. This isn't super faith, but it's simply faith in God's Promise, which is Jesus Himself.
These were still Promises in the Old Testament, but they're no longer just Promise in the new covenant. They are fact and Truth.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Lesson 127 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and 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."
Most everyone can quote John 1:1-3,14 (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 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." Verse 14 says, "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled, fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile among us; and we actually saw His Glory, His honor, His majesty, such Glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of Grace, favor, Loving kindness and Truth."
Most of us probably know both of these scriptures by heart and can easily quote them, but do we truly understand them in our spirit? If these scriptures are True (and they are), then we know that Jesus and the Word are One and Jesus and the Father are One. 1John 5:7 (Amplified) says, "So there are three witnesses in Heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One." Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword; penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of Life, soul, and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of our nature; exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
Let's, by faith, look at what the above scriptures are telling us. We continually converse about Jesus, as being the Word made flesh, especially as Christmas approaches. We read about this from Isaiah and honor the Baby in the manger, but do we truly understand this while reading God's Word today? God's Word tells us that Jesus and God's Word are One and this is Truth still today. We're not talking about "just another book" or The Bible. It's God speaking to us by Jesus, Who is the Living Word and when we read it, we're actually listening to Him speak to us, by faith.
It's not the physical Bible you're holding, that is Holy, but it's the Word that is inspired by God, that is Holy. We confess and believe that, "The Word became flesh," but we've allowed it to lose it's life, when Jesus ascended to the Father. The Word is still alive and is now made flesh again, in the Body of Christ (the Church). The Word (Christ Jesus) is living in us, like it did in the flesh and blood Body of Jesus. It's speaking through us, just like it did in the Body of flesh that was Jesus.
You receive Revelation Knowledge from on High, when you read the Word and hear the Word. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." When we hear by faith, we're not simply reading a word, but we're hearing The Word, Jesus Himself. Some only understand the letter of the Word, while others understand the Spirit of the Word. Jesus told His followers in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
Even though we're born-again and have the needed education and ability to read, doesn't mean we can receive the Revelation of the Word, because it is Spirit. This is one reason we have so many different people, represented in today's Church. We're divided by some of the teachings we hear. Some are Spirit and Life, while some have no benefit in them at all, because they've come simply by the flesh. I can teach you from God's Word, but only He can give you the Revelation of that teaching.
Listen with your own spirit, what Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) is saying to your spirit. Paul received a Revelation by Jesus Himself (remember that Jesus and the Word are One) and Paul is speaking by Revelation when he writes to the Church. Jesus said that, "The Words I am speaking to you are Spirit and Life" and just because Paul is giving voice to them, doesn't mean they're not Jesus speaking to us. Paul had been demonstrating the differences between the old and new covenants. He had been teaching about the priesthood, sacrifices, and traditions that people were commanded to follow under Law. In order to qualify to receive from God under the old covenant, the people had to follow the Laws.
Through Jesus, Paul reveals the new covenant and the new priesthood of God's people, saying, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things hoped for." It's not the Law or ritual, not the sacrifices or the priest who still has to atone for his own sins, before he can be accepted. It's not observing the Sabbath, like those in the old covenant did, but it is "Now faith" that we receive from our new High Priest and covenant. This is the covenant of Grace and not the letter of the Law. It's Jesus Who is alive and full of power and sharper than any two-edged sword. Jesus and Jesus alone, Jesus by His Word, can reach beyond the intellect and reach into the very spirit of a man and woman. He can divide the soul from the spirit and separate even the joints and the marrow of the flesh and bloody body of a man.
It's no longer by Laws, that we govern the flesh, because the flesh cannot reach the spirit. God's Word (Which is Spirit) governs from the spirit of man, to the Spirit of God and this Spirit is Jesus, the Living Word. We must read the Word by faith, because it's only by faith we can hear it. Paul finishes Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) saying, "Being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."
This is the difference between just reading the Word and hearing the Word. One is the senses and the other is Spirit and Life. It's the same Word when it's only written, but it's Jesus the Living Word, when we receive and see it through faith and in the Spirit. The greatest fellowship I have in Jesus, happens when I go through His written Word and He speaks it to my spirit. I don't only have the education to renew my mind, but I have the Revelation to in it's Truth.
This is something personal that happens in my walk with God and I write what I receive from Him. You must take what I write and go to Him, in order to actually see it by faith and walk in it by Revelation. The entire New Testament is Revelation Knowledge, but it must be Revelation. Jesus will show it to you, if you will by faith, perceive as real fact, what it not revealed to the senses, according to Hebrews 11:1.
Your senses cannot perceive Spiritual things, they must come into your spirit by Revelation. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, must make Himself (the Word), "Alive and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and divide from soul and spirit, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him." Remember that Jesus is alive, and because He is the Word, the Word is alive as well. Don't just read the Word with your mind, but hear it with your spirit by faith. Listen to Him, as He speak His Truths to you.
Most everyone can quote John 1:1-3,14 (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 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." Verse 14 says, "And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled, fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile among us; and we actually saw His Glory, His honor, His majesty, such Glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of Grace, favor, Loving kindness and Truth."
Most of us probably know both of these scriptures by heart and can easily quote them, but do we truly understand them in our spirit? If these scriptures are True (and they are), then we know that Jesus and the Word are One and Jesus and the Father are One. 1John 5:7 (Amplified) says, "So there are three witnesses in Heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One." Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword; penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of Life, soul, and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of our nature; exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
Let's, by faith, look at what the above scriptures are telling us. We continually converse about Jesus, as being the Word made flesh, especially as Christmas approaches. We read about this from Isaiah and honor the Baby in the manger, but do we truly understand this while reading God's Word today? God's Word tells us that Jesus and God's Word are One and this is Truth still today. We're not talking about "just another book" or The Bible. It's God speaking to us by Jesus, Who is the Living Word and when we read it, we're actually listening to Him speak to us, by faith.
It's not the physical Bible you're holding, that is Holy, but it's the Word that is inspired by God, that is Holy. We confess and believe that, "The Word became flesh," but we've allowed it to lose it's life, when Jesus ascended to the Father. The Word is still alive and is now made flesh again, in the Body of Christ (the Church). The Word (Christ Jesus) is living in us, like it did in the flesh and blood Body of Jesus. It's speaking through us, just like it did in the Body of flesh that was Jesus.
You receive Revelation Knowledge from on High, when you read the Word and hear the Word. Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." When we hear by faith, we're not simply reading a word, but we're hearing The Word, Jesus Himself. Some only understand the letter of the Word, while others understand the Spirit of the Word. Jesus told His followers in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
Even though we're born-again and have the needed education and ability to read, doesn't mean we can receive the Revelation of the Word, because it is Spirit. This is one reason we have so many different people, represented in today's Church. We're divided by some of the teachings we hear. Some are Spirit and Life, while some have no benefit in them at all, because they've come simply by the flesh. I can teach you from God's Word, but only He can give you the Revelation of that teaching.
Listen with your own spirit, what Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) is saying to your spirit. Paul received a Revelation by Jesus Himself (remember that Jesus and the Word are One) and Paul is speaking by Revelation when he writes to the Church. Jesus said that, "The Words I am speaking to you are Spirit and Life" and just because Paul is giving voice to them, doesn't mean they're not Jesus speaking to us. Paul had been demonstrating the differences between the old and new covenants. He had been teaching about the priesthood, sacrifices, and traditions that people were commanded to follow under Law. In order to qualify to receive from God under the old covenant, the people had to follow the Laws.
Through Jesus, Paul reveals the new covenant and the new priesthood of God's people, saying, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things hoped for." It's not the Law or ritual, not the sacrifices or the priest who still has to atone for his own sins, before he can be accepted. It's not observing the Sabbath, like those in the old covenant did, but it is "Now faith" that we receive from our new High Priest and covenant. This is the covenant of Grace and not the letter of the Law. It's Jesus Who is alive and full of power and sharper than any two-edged sword. Jesus and Jesus alone, Jesus by His Word, can reach beyond the intellect and reach into the very spirit of a man and woman. He can divide the soul from the spirit and separate even the joints and the marrow of the flesh and bloody body of a man.
It's no longer by Laws, that we govern the flesh, because the flesh cannot reach the spirit. God's Word (Which is Spirit) governs from the spirit of man, to the Spirit of God and this Spirit is Jesus, the Living Word. We must read the Word by faith, because it's only by faith we can hear it. Paul finishes Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) saying, "Being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."
This is the difference between just reading the Word and hearing the Word. One is the senses and the other is Spirit and Life. It's the same Word when it's only written, but it's Jesus the Living Word, when we receive and see it through faith and in the Spirit. The greatest fellowship I have in Jesus, happens when I go through His written Word and He speaks it to my spirit. I don't only have the education to renew my mind, but I have the Revelation to in it's Truth.
This is something personal that happens in my walk with God and I write what I receive from Him. You must take what I write and go to Him, in order to actually see it by faith and walk in it by Revelation. The entire New Testament is Revelation Knowledge, but it must be Revelation. Jesus will show it to you, if you will by faith, perceive as real fact, what it not revealed to the senses, according to Hebrews 11:1.
Your senses cannot perceive Spiritual things, they must come into your spirit by Revelation. Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, must make Himself (the Word), "Alive and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and divide from soul and spirit, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him." Remember that Jesus is alive, and because He is the Word, the Word is alive as well. Don't just read the Word with your mind, but hear it with your spirit by faith. Listen to Him, as He speak His Truths to you.
Monday, December 17, 2018
Lesson 126 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
The Spiritual Blessings are the things God couldn't give to the people before the new birth. They were dead in their spirits unto God, so these Spiritual Blessings couldn't be administered into their spirits. We've missed so much in our family covenant with the Father, because we've failed to understand these Spiritual Blessings. The first Spiritual Blessing was Life. John 10:10 (Amplified) tells us that, "Jesus came that we could have Life and we could have it in abundance (til it overflows)."
In this Life was the Very Life of God and within this Life was the Grace of God. This Grace and Spiritual Blessings can once again reach into even the natural man, from Heaven itself. God could now walk with His children and His children can now walk with Him.
The Spiritual Blessing came to us, when God's Life entered into our spirit, with His Spirit. These Spiritual Blessings included the imputation of God's Own Spirit, Who brings strength, health, Wisdom, understanding, faith, Love, joy and all the Fruits of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit are the things our spirits would have produced before the fall of the first Adam.
This Fruit of the spirit, talked about here, isn't the Holy Spirit, but what our spirit was actually to be like from the beginning. "Everything bears fruit after its kind", according to the Law of Genesis 1:12. Our spirit was to bear fruit after the Seed of God. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Galatians 5:22-23 (Amplified) says, "But the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which His Presence within accomplishes, is Love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, an even temper, forbearance, kindness, Goodness, benevolence, faithfulness, Gentleness, meekness, humility, self control, self restraint, continence, against such things there is now law that can bring a charge." This is the fruit of the Seed, which produces after kind.
The Seed (Who is Jesus), spoke about this in another way in John 15:5 (Amplified), saying, "I am the Vine; you are the branches, Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much abundant fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me), you can do nothing." Jesus isn't only the Vine, but He is the Seed (the Word) and we're to bear the fruit of His nature. We have the ability to sow the same Seed, through the Spiritual Blessing, because we have been produced after Kind. The Word we speak, is the same Seed that produces more children to God's family.
Jesus gives the "Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4. Jesus was the Sower and through the new birth, we've also become sowers of that Seed, in order to produce after kind. God's Word (the Seed) will always produce a child of God, who is made in His Likeness and Image. Throughout history, we've tried changing the Image of the Seed, causing it to conform to our ideas, instead of being what the Father desired when He sent His Seed (Jesus). The Image of the Seed is mostly determined by denominations today.
Modern science has produced seedless grapes that are pleasing for us to eat. However, they must be genetically produced, because they're without seed to reproduce. There are many seeds (words) being sown into the earth today, that are producing many things. God's Word isn't the only Seed producing in the world, but the world and the enemy are producing seeds (words) which are bringing forth harvests.
Words are seeds unto themselves, which will produce a harvest into our lives and will produce after kind. Whatsoever you hear the most, will have the greatest effect on your life. Whatever you sow into your spirit, will produce a harvest in your life. Your spirit became "good soil," when you were born-again and that soil will produce and grow whatever you allow to be sown into it. Through Jesus, the Father has now reproduced in us, what Adam lost in the fall. We witness these Spiritual Blessings being restored in Jesus' life, through the Holy Spirit. Today's Church has failed to recognize the full impact of Spiritual Blessings.
Spiritual Blessings are Blessing bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit, into our born-again spirit. This is the nature of our Heavenly Father, moving and producing Himself into His family again. All of the Blessings of Abraham that were sowed, are still producing through the Spiritual Blessings we've received in Jesus. God's Life was restored into our spirit and has overflowed into the natural, causing us to become new creations in salvation. We're now Super-natural beings on this earth. We don't only have a natural body and life, but now, we're like the first Adam and the Last Adam Jesus. They were both physical men, with Spiritual Life and ability.
We've been taught that these Spiritual Blessings are for when we die and go to Heaven. When we get to Heaven, we won't need them. They are for us, now. Healing is a Spiritual Blessing. There was no sickness, until after Adam's transgression and spiritual death in the Garden of Eden. Sickness came through man's fallen spirit and is a spiritual invasion manifested in the flesh. In Proverbs 4:20-22 (Amplified) God says, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings, Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart For they are Life to those who find them and healing and health to all their flesh."
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." Where there is Life, there is also health and healing to the flesh, by the Spiritual Blessings. Death came in the spirit and with that death came sickness, despair, distress and futility. Life came through Jesus in the Spirit. The Spiritual Blessing now lives within our spirit, bringing us Love, joy, peace and the Fruit of the Spirit. The Spiritual Blessing now abides within our spirit, by the Life in and of the Seed, Who is the Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ. We must learn to draw out of spirit, what God has placed in us.
The Spiritual Blessings are the things God couldn't give to the people before the new birth. They were dead in their spirits unto God, so these Spiritual Blessings couldn't be administered into their spirits. We've missed so much in our family covenant with the Father, because we've failed to understand these Spiritual Blessings. The first Spiritual Blessing was Life. John 10:10 (Amplified) tells us that, "Jesus came that we could have Life and we could have it in abundance (til it overflows)."
In this Life was the Very Life of God and within this Life was the Grace of God. This Grace and Spiritual Blessings can once again reach into even the natural man, from Heaven itself. God could now walk with His children and His children can now walk with Him.
The Spiritual Blessing came to us, when God's Life entered into our spirit, with His Spirit. These Spiritual Blessings included the imputation of God's Own Spirit, Who brings strength, health, Wisdom, understanding, faith, Love, joy and all the Fruits of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit are the things our spirits would have produced before the fall of the first Adam.
This Fruit of the spirit, talked about here, isn't the Holy Spirit, but what our spirit was actually to be like from the beginning. "Everything bears fruit after its kind", according to the Law of Genesis 1:12. Our spirit was to bear fruit after the Seed of God. 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
Galatians 5:22-23 (Amplified) says, "But the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which His Presence within accomplishes, is Love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, an even temper, forbearance, kindness, Goodness, benevolence, faithfulness, Gentleness, meekness, humility, self control, self restraint, continence, against such things there is now law that can bring a charge." This is the fruit of the Seed, which produces after kind.
The Seed (Who is Jesus), spoke about this in another way in John 15:5 (Amplified), saying, "I am the Vine; you are the branches, Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much abundant fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me), you can do nothing." Jesus isn't only the Vine, but He is the Seed (the Word) and we're to bear the fruit of His nature. We have the ability to sow the same Seed, through the Spiritual Blessing, because we have been produced after Kind. The Word we speak, is the same Seed that produces more children to God's family.
Jesus gives the "Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4. Jesus was the Sower and through the new birth, we've also become sowers of that Seed, in order to produce after kind. God's Word (the Seed) will always produce a child of God, who is made in His Likeness and Image. Throughout history, we've tried changing the Image of the Seed, causing it to conform to our ideas, instead of being what the Father desired when He sent His Seed (Jesus). The Image of the Seed is mostly determined by denominations today.
Modern science has produced seedless grapes that are pleasing for us to eat. However, they must be genetically produced, because they're without seed to reproduce. There are many seeds (words) being sown into the earth today, that are producing many things. God's Word isn't the only Seed producing in the world, but the world and the enemy are producing seeds (words) which are bringing forth harvests.
Words are seeds unto themselves, which will produce a harvest into our lives and will produce after kind. Whatsoever you hear the most, will have the greatest effect on your life. Whatever you sow into your spirit, will produce a harvest in your life. Your spirit became "good soil," when you were born-again and that soil will produce and grow whatever you allow to be sown into it. Through Jesus, the Father has now reproduced in us, what Adam lost in the fall. We witness these Spiritual Blessings being restored in Jesus' life, through the Holy Spirit. Today's Church has failed to recognize the full impact of Spiritual Blessings.
Spiritual Blessings are Blessing bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit, into our born-again spirit. This is the nature of our Heavenly Father, moving and producing Himself into His family again. All of the Blessings of Abraham that were sowed, are still producing through the Spiritual Blessings we've received in Jesus. God's Life was restored into our spirit and has overflowed into the natural, causing us to become new creations in salvation. We're now Super-natural beings on this earth. We don't only have a natural body and life, but now, we're like the first Adam and the Last Adam Jesus. They were both physical men, with Spiritual Life and ability.
We've been taught that these Spiritual Blessings are for when we die and go to Heaven. When we get to Heaven, we won't need them. They are for us, now. Healing is a Spiritual Blessing. There was no sickness, until after Adam's transgression and spiritual death in the Garden of Eden. Sickness came through man's fallen spirit and is a spiritual invasion manifested in the flesh. In Proverbs 4:20-22 (Amplified) God says, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings, Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart For they are Life to those who find them and healing and health to all their flesh."
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." Where there is Life, there is also health and healing to the flesh, by the Spiritual Blessings. Death came in the spirit and with that death came sickness, despair, distress and futility. Life came through Jesus in the Spirit. The Spiritual Blessing now lives within our spirit, bringing us Love, joy, peace and the Fruit of the Spirit. The Spiritual Blessing now abides within our spirit, by the Life in and of the Seed, Who is the Word made flesh, Jesus the Christ. We must learn to draw out of spirit, what God has placed in us.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Lesson 125 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Many years ago, Brother Hugh Smith from Joshua, Texas, preached a message he entitled, "Hoe your own row." Anyone who has ever worked a garden of any kind, knows that we usually plant things in rows. My siblings and I were assigned a row in our family garden, which we were each responsible to hoe. The weeds needed to be hoed out and the soil had to be loosened, in order to plant and grow seeds. I was only responsible to hoe, plant, and keep my row weeded.
Some in the Body of Christ only come to salvation. They are babes in Christ and know very little about what actually happened when they were born-again yet. Others in the Body have been saved for a long time. We all have the same Father and the same Lord, but we might have different understandings about what salvation is. We must walk in love towards those who remain babes in Christ, but we must not return to crawling, in our walk with God.
You're not required to give up our personal walk and understanding with Jesus, just because others aren't walking in the same depth of faith you're walking in. You're also not to ridicule them, for their lack of understanding. Our job is to feed them, making sure they receive the proper nourishment, so they can grow into adulthood in Christ Jesus. Babies don't know the difference between candy and spinach, but we're supposed to know the difference.
We must weight the Truth in what we hear or read. We must judge these things by God's Word of Grace and Truth. Understand the Truth of God's Word for yourself and hold onto it. God's Word isn't True, because it works for some and it's not True, because it doesn't for some. God's Word is Truth, because God said it, regardless of whether or not it works for some. Don't base the Truth of God's Word on someone's testimony, but base it on the Integrity of God Himself. Just because some aren't saved, doesn't mean that God's Word of salvation isn't True. Every person has the responsibility or accepting salvation or not acting on it.
I've believed and acted on things from God's Word that I won't stop acting on, just because someone else says "it's not for today." I'm responsible for y own liberty that God granted to me, by His Grace. If Jesus made me free, then I am free indeed! This scripture is quoted out of context many times, but this is what John 8:31-32 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word, hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
John 7:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Jesus answered them by saying, My teaching is not My Own but His Who sent Me. If any man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize and can tell for himself), whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My Own accord and on My Own authority."
Today's world is full of many "teachings," and holds many views, but you can know for yourself, by the Holy Spirit, whether these teachings and views are from God, or not. This is what John said in 1John 2:20 (Amplified) where he said, "But you have been anointed by (you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One), and you know the Truth or you know all things."
The Holy Spirit is still The Best Teacher, the Church could ever have. If you hear something that leaves a "check" in your spirit, then go to God with it before spitting it out or before swallowing it. Just because some don't know or view liberty like God has revealed it to you, doesn't mean it is wrong. Different isn't always wrong.
I'm responsible to God, for my own liberty in Christ Jesus and He tells me, "Don't use my liberty as an occasion to sin." This means that I must know where my limits are in liberty, so I don't misuse it for unclean things. There are many teachings about Grace today. Many teach misuses of liberty and using their liberty for occasion to sin, in things the Word says to abstain from. This is where we must each become responsible for our own liberty. We must never allow others to place us back under bondage. We must never take the limits off our liberty and bring ourselves back unto ungodliness.
Romans 14:22 (Amplified) again says, "Your personal conviction of such matters, exercise them as in God's Presence, keeping them to yourself, striving only to know the Truth and obey His will. Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves, who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do."
Remember who Paul was before being saved and who he is at the time of his writing 1Corinthians 4:4 (Amplified), where he writes, "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."
Many believed Paul to be a blasphemer, murderer and someone who denied God when he left the Law, for Grace. Despite what others believed and accused Paul of being, he knew what his liberty in Christ brought him and he walked in it. Paul refused to surrender his liberty, in order to please others. He continued in the Revelation of the new creation Kingdom of God, just like Jesus instructed him. In Galatians 3:1-2,4 (Amplified), Paul chastised the Church in Galatia for giving up their liberty in Christ Jesus and returning to the bondage of the Law. Paul gives account about a "false" Christians who were smuggled into the Church, in order to "spy out their liberty in Christ and their freedom from the Law of Moses." These persons were sent there to bring the believers back under bondage.
Jesus didn't give His Life, in order to bring us another religion. He gave His Life to bring us Life and son-ship rights with the Father. There are so many religions, but very little Grace and very little Truth can be found in them. When you truly walk in liberty in Christ, people view you differently. They don't do this because you are wrong, but because they've been taught to observe the laws of religion and are familiar with these traditions. We're not walking in the liberty Christ gave to us, because we're "so cool" or we're "better than others." We're doing so, in order to walk in what Jesus actually gave to us.
God hasn't changed the new covenant and neither should we. If God still wanted us to be under the Law, then He would never have sent Jesus to redeem us. We must allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God's Word to us, in Grace and Truth. We must stand firm in our liberty, without allowing anyone to steal it from us. 2Corinthians 5:13 (Amplified) says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)." Galatians 5:13 (Amplified) says, "For you brethren were indeed called to freedom ["liberty" in the K.J.V] only do not let your freedom (liberty) be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse."
James 2:12 (Amplified) says, "So speak and so act as people should who are to be judged under the Law of Liberty (the moral instructions given by Christ), especially about Love."
Many years ago, Brother Hugh Smith from Joshua, Texas, preached a message he entitled, "Hoe your own row." Anyone who has ever worked a garden of any kind, knows that we usually plant things in rows. My siblings and I were assigned a row in our family garden, which we were each responsible to hoe. The weeds needed to be hoed out and the soil had to be loosened, in order to plant and grow seeds. I was only responsible to hoe, plant, and keep my row weeded.
Some in the Body of Christ only come to salvation. They are babes in Christ and know very little about what actually happened when they were born-again yet. Others in the Body have been saved for a long time. We all have the same Father and the same Lord, but we might have different understandings about what salvation is. We must walk in love towards those who remain babes in Christ, but we must not return to crawling, in our walk with God.
You're not required to give up our personal walk and understanding with Jesus, just because others aren't walking in the same depth of faith you're walking in. You're also not to ridicule them, for their lack of understanding. Our job is to feed them, making sure they receive the proper nourishment, so they can grow into adulthood in Christ Jesus. Babies don't know the difference between candy and spinach, but we're supposed to know the difference.
We must weight the Truth in what we hear or read. We must judge these things by God's Word of Grace and Truth. Understand the Truth of God's Word for yourself and hold onto it. God's Word isn't True, because it works for some and it's not True, because it doesn't for some. God's Word is Truth, because God said it, regardless of whether or not it works for some. Don't base the Truth of God's Word on someone's testimony, but base it on the Integrity of God Himself. Just because some aren't saved, doesn't mean that God's Word of salvation isn't True. Every person has the responsibility or accepting salvation or not acting on it.
I've believed and acted on things from God's Word that I won't stop acting on, just because someone else says "it's not for today." I'm responsible for y own liberty that God granted to me, by His Grace. If Jesus made me free, then I am free indeed! This scripture is quoted out of context many times, but this is what John 8:31-32 (Amplified) says, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word, hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."
John 7:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Jesus answered them by saying, My teaching is not My Own but His Who sent Me. If any man desires to do His will (God's pleasure), he will know (have the needed illumination to recognize and can tell for himself), whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking from Myself and of My Own accord and on My Own authority."
Today's world is full of many "teachings," and holds many views, but you can know for yourself, by the Holy Spirit, whether these teachings and views are from God, or not. This is what John said in 1John 2:20 (Amplified) where he said, "But you have been anointed by (you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One), and you know the Truth or you know all things."
The Holy Spirit is still The Best Teacher, the Church could ever have. If you hear something that leaves a "check" in your spirit, then go to God with it before spitting it out or before swallowing it. Just because some don't know or view liberty like God has revealed it to you, doesn't mean it is wrong. Different isn't always wrong.
I'm responsible to God, for my own liberty in Christ Jesus and He tells me, "Don't use my liberty as an occasion to sin." This means that I must know where my limits are in liberty, so I don't misuse it for unclean things. There are many teachings about Grace today. Many teach misuses of liberty and using their liberty for occasion to sin, in things the Word says to abstain from. This is where we must each become responsible for our own liberty. We must never allow others to place us back under bondage. We must never take the limits off our liberty and bring ourselves back unto ungodliness.
Romans 14:22 (Amplified) again says, "Your personal conviction of such matters, exercise them as in God's Presence, keeping them to yourself, striving only to know the Truth and obey His will. Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves, who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do."
Remember who Paul was before being saved and who he is at the time of his writing 1Corinthians 4:4 (Amplified), where he writes, "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."
Many believed Paul to be a blasphemer, murderer and someone who denied God when he left the Law, for Grace. Despite what others believed and accused Paul of being, he knew what his liberty in Christ brought him and he walked in it. Paul refused to surrender his liberty, in order to please others. He continued in the Revelation of the new creation Kingdom of God, just like Jesus instructed him. In Galatians 3:1-2,4 (Amplified), Paul chastised the Church in Galatia for giving up their liberty in Christ Jesus and returning to the bondage of the Law. Paul gives account about a "false" Christians who were smuggled into the Church, in order to "spy out their liberty in Christ and their freedom from the Law of Moses." These persons were sent there to bring the believers back under bondage.
Jesus didn't give His Life, in order to bring us another religion. He gave His Life to bring us Life and son-ship rights with the Father. There are so many religions, but very little Grace and very little Truth can be found in them. When you truly walk in liberty in Christ, people view you differently. They don't do this because you are wrong, but because they've been taught to observe the laws of religion and are familiar with these traditions. We're not walking in the liberty Christ gave to us, because we're "so cool" or we're "better than others." We're doing so, in order to walk in what Jesus actually gave to us.
God hasn't changed the new covenant and neither should we. If God still wanted us to be under the Law, then He would never have sent Jesus to redeem us. We must allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God's Word to us, in Grace and Truth. We must stand firm in our liberty, without allowing anyone to steal it from us. 2Corinthians 5:13 (Amplified) says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)." Galatians 5:13 (Amplified) says, "For you brethren were indeed called to freedom ["liberty" in the K.J.V] only do not let your freedom (liberty) be an incentive to your flesh and an opportunity or excuse."
James 2:12 (Amplified) says, "So speak and so act as people should who are to be judged under the Law of Liberty (the moral instructions given by Christ), especially about Love."
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Lesson 124 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even 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 the "Declaration of Independence" was ratified, Ben Franklin was asked, "What did you give us?" He stated, "A Republic, if you can keep it." Many years have come and gone and the republic has been undermined by the dueling between our two party system, who seem to have forgotten the interest of the people they represent. Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah), to preach the Good News (Gospel), to the poor, He has sent Me to announce the release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed, who are down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity, to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and free favors of God profusely abound)."
The thing about liberty is that one must become responsible in his/her liberty, in order to maintain it. When you delegate your own responsibility over to someone else, then that person holds your liberty and can dole it out, as he/she sees fit. You are then, no longer free. James 1:22-25 (Amplified) says, "But be doers of the Word, obey the Message and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being doers of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of Liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
Many have "heard" the Word from someone else's perspective, without looking into this Law of Liberty for themselves. Your liberty (or your perspective of liberty) then, is only what someone else sees and has delivered to you. The responsibility of liberty is one that every individual must receive, on his/her own. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:20-21 (Amplified) saying, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also utensils of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble use and some for menial and ignoble use. So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean (who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences), will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master (fit and ready for any Good work)."
Our Liberty in Christ Jesus, is something we're personally responsible for. We've mistakenly entrusted our liberty into the hands of others, without taking on any personal responsibility for it. Now we have someone else' idea of what liberty is. I'm not suggesting that we don't need others or that we don't need the local Body of believers, but that doesn't release us from studying and receiving Revelation from God into our own spirits.
It's obvious that different denominations in the Body of Christ, have different beliefs and traditions, some of which are right and some are wrong. We're responsible to God for what we believe. Don't let someone tell you that a Revelation you've received from God is wrong and don't let someone else take it from you. 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) tells us, "Fight the Good fight of faith, lay hold of the eternal Life to which you were summoned and for which you confess, the good confession of faith before many witnesses."
Paul writes about the believer's personal responsibility in Romans 14:1-8, 14-15,21-22 (Amplified) saying, "As for the man who is a weak believer, welcome him into your fellowship but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions. One man's faith permits him to believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one limits his eating to vegetables. Let not him who eats, look down on or despise him who abstains, and let him not who abstains criticize and pass judgment on him who eats, for God has accepted and welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on and censure another's household servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he shall stand and be upheld, for the Mast (the Lord) is Mighty to support him and make him stand. One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike (sacred), Let everyone be fully convinced, satisfied in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. He also who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while he who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. None of us lives to himself but to the Lord, and none of us dies to himself but to the Lord, For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord."
Paul continues in Verses 14-16, "I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is forbidden as essentially unclean, defiled and unholy in itself. But nonetheless, it is unclean, defiled and unholy to anyone who thinks it is unclean. But if your brother is being pained of his feelings hurt or if he is being injured by what you eat, then you are no longer walking in Love; You have ceased to be living and conducting yourself by the standard of Love toward him. Do not let what you eat hurt or cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. Do not therefore let what seems good to you be considered an evil thing by someone else; In other words, do not give occasion for others to criticize that which is justifiable for you." Verses 21-22 go on, "The right thing is, to eat no meat or drink no wine at all, or do anything else if it makes your brother stumble or hurts his conscience or offends or weakens him. Your personal convictions on such matters exercise them as in God's Presence keeping them to yourself, striving only to know the Truth and obey His will, Blessed (happy, to be envied), is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves, who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do. But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats, perhaps because of you, stands condemned before God because he is not True to his convictions, and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin, whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful."
Romans 14 reveals the many different aspects of faith, in the Body of Christ. We have the personal responsibility to walk in and understand the Truth. Paul didn't tell me to "abandon my faith, .because of someone else." He did tell me, "Don't judge someone who is weaker or more immature in their faith." Every person is required by the Holy Spirit, to grow and mature in God, just like natural babies who grow into adults. Many don't observe Christmas, because they see it as a pagan holiday, while others do celebrate Christmas, recognizing it as the birth of Jesus. Both groups are honoring God, when they observe what their faith tells them. Don't let someone place you into the position, where you move outside your own faith, for it condemns your conscience and brings you under condemnation. Seek out your liberty for yourself
When the "Declaration of Independence" was ratified, Ben Franklin was asked, "What did you give us?" He stated, "A Republic, if you can keep it." Many years have come and gone and the republic has been undermined by the dueling between our two party system, who seem to have forgotten the interest of the people they represent. Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19 (Amplified) saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me (the Anointed One, the Messiah), to preach the Good News (Gospel), to the poor, He has sent Me to announce the release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed, who are down trodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity, to proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord (the day when salvation and free favors of God profusely abound)."
The thing about liberty is that one must become responsible in his/her liberty, in order to maintain it. When you delegate your own responsibility over to someone else, then that person holds your liberty and can dole it out, as he/she sees fit. You are then, no longer free. James 1:22-25 (Amplified) says, "But be doers of the Word, obey the Message and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being doers of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of Liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
Many have "heard" the Word from someone else's perspective, without looking into this Law of Liberty for themselves. Your liberty (or your perspective of liberty) then, is only what someone else sees and has delivered to you. The responsibility of liberty is one that every individual must receive, on his/her own. Paul writes to Timothy in 2Timothy 2:20-21 (Amplified) saying, "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also utensils of wood and earthenware, and some for honorable and noble use and some for menial and ignoble use. So whoever cleanses himself from what is ignoble and unclean (who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences), will then himself be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master (fit and ready for any Good work)."
Our Liberty in Christ Jesus, is something we're personally responsible for. We've mistakenly entrusted our liberty into the hands of others, without taking on any personal responsibility for it. Now we have someone else' idea of what liberty is. I'm not suggesting that we don't need others or that we don't need the local Body of believers, but that doesn't release us from studying and receiving Revelation from God into our own spirits.
It's obvious that different denominations in the Body of Christ, have different beliefs and traditions, some of which are right and some are wrong. We're responsible to God for what we believe. Don't let someone tell you that a Revelation you've received from God is wrong and don't let someone else take it from you. 1Timothy 6:12 (Amplified) tells us, "Fight the Good fight of faith, lay hold of the eternal Life to which you were summoned and for which you confess, the good confession of faith before many witnesses."
Paul writes about the believer's personal responsibility in Romans 14:1-8, 14-15,21-22 (Amplified) saying, "As for the man who is a weak believer, welcome him into your fellowship but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions. One man's faith permits him to believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one limits his eating to vegetables. Let not him who eats, look down on or despise him who abstains, and let him not who abstains criticize and pass judgment on him who eats, for God has accepted and welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on and censure another's household servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he shall stand and be upheld, for the Mast (the Lord) is Mighty to support him and make him stand. One man esteems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike (sacred), Let everyone be fully convinced, satisfied in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. He also who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while he who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. None of us lives to himself but to the Lord, and none of us dies to himself but to the Lord, For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or we die, we belong to the Lord."
Paul continues in Verses 14-16, "I know and am convinced (persuaded) as one in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is forbidden as essentially unclean, defiled and unholy in itself. But nonetheless, it is unclean, defiled and unholy to anyone who thinks it is unclean. But if your brother is being pained of his feelings hurt or if he is being injured by what you eat, then you are no longer walking in Love; You have ceased to be living and conducting yourself by the standard of Love toward him. Do not let what you eat hurt or cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. Do not therefore let what seems good to you be considered an evil thing by someone else; In other words, do not give occasion for others to criticize that which is justifiable for you." Verses 21-22 go on, "The right thing is, to eat no meat or drink no wine at all, or do anything else if it makes your brother stumble or hurts his conscience or offends or weakens him. Your personal convictions on such matters exercise them as in God's Presence keeping them to yourself, striving only to know the Truth and obey His will, Blessed (happy, to be envied), is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves, who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do. But the man who has doubts (misgivings, an uneasy conscience) about eating, and then eats, perhaps because of you, stands condemned before God because he is not True to his convictions, and he does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin, whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful."
Romans 14 reveals the many different aspects of faith, in the Body of Christ. We have the personal responsibility to walk in and understand the Truth. Paul didn't tell me to "abandon my faith, .because of someone else." He did tell me, "Don't judge someone who is weaker or more immature in their faith." Every person is required by the Holy Spirit, to grow and mature in God, just like natural babies who grow into adults. Many don't observe Christmas, because they see it as a pagan holiday, while others do celebrate Christmas, recognizing it as the birth of Jesus. Both groups are honoring God, when they observe what their faith tells them. Don't let someone place you into the position, where you move outside your own faith, for it condemns your conscience and brings you under condemnation. Seek out your liberty for yourself
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Lesson 123 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even 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."
Paul speaks about what the King James Bible calls, "The principle of faith," in Romans 3:26-27. The Amplified Bible refers to the Law of Faith, saying, "It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season), that He Himself is Righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our pride and our boasting? It is excluded, banished, ruled out entirely, on what principle (Law), on the principle (Law) of doing good deeds? No, but on the principle (Law) of Faith."
Faith is a Law of the new family covenant, which cannot be ignored by the Church any longer. Everything we are, have and receive, come to us by faith, according to Romans 1:17 (Amplified), which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable, and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
We inherited the Promise of Abraham through Jesus, when we were born-again. Galatians 3:28-29 (Amplified) says, "There is now no distinction, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ (are in Him), Who is Abraham's Seed, then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise."
Not one Christians has more of an inheritance, than any other Christian. Romans 8:17 (Amplified) says, "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."
If you really want to share in His suffering, then begin walking in the Promise and inheritance like He did. Suffering and persecution will surely follow. Most of the religious leaders persecuted Jesus, at every instance of His ministry. Jesus always did things on the "wrong" day, at the "wrong" time, and not according to the customs of the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law, but because of His Love and Grace, Jesus never violated even one part of the Law. He did though, transgress traditions that had nothing to do with Law.
These man-made laws cannot hold a man who walks by Grace and faith in the inheritance of the Promise God made to the Seed. The Promise was made to Abraham and his Seed, singular, Who is Jesus. Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
Notice, the above scripture says, "So that we through faith." Let's reread Romans 4:16 (Amplified), which says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith in order that it may be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable, and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants." Paul writes about growing our faith in Romans 1:17 (Amplified) saying, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes [this is God's Righteousness that we've received by faith and was granted us by Grace], is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith, that arouses to more faith."
This faith is a living force of Grace, that is to develop us from simply religion to reality and relationship with the Father. It's the Promise that was delivered through Jesus, to all who will believe or have faith, in what Grace has made available to us in Him. It's not just "another teaching" and it's a subject that should divide the Church. It should unite the Church. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "Out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with." We're joint heirs or fellow heirs with Jesus and through Him, we have all received."
Many haven't dared to go against the traditions of men and step into the inheritance of Jesus, but it's available to all who go from faith to faith. When you were born-again, the inheritance was made yours, but it must be "disclosed through the way of faith." The Holy Spirit will disclose this inheritance to you, if you come to Him in faith to receive.
Ephesians 4:12-13 (Amplified) says, "His intention was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building Christ's Body (the Church) That it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that we might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's Own perfection, the measure of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him."
All this comes from and by faith that grows from one level of faith to another level of faith. Our faith is "in Him" and only faith in Him can reveal Him as He is. You can't have faith for healing, without faith and knowledge of the Healer. Without faith in your inheritance, you won't receive the manifestation of such things as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or the Power of His Name, even though they are already yours. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace."
God's will is Grace and Truth.
Paul speaks about what the King James Bible calls, "The principle of faith," in Romans 3:26-27. The Amplified Bible refers to the Law of Faith, saying, "It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season), that He Himself is Righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our pride and our boasting? It is excluded, banished, ruled out entirely, on what principle (Law), on the principle (Law) of doing good deeds? No, but on the principle (Law) of Faith."
Faith is a Law of the new family covenant, which cannot be ignored by the Church any longer. Everything we are, have and receive, come to us by faith, according to Romans 1:17 (Amplified), which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith. As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable, and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
We inherited the Promise of Abraham through Jesus, when we were born-again. Galatians 3:28-29 (Amplified) says, "There is now no distinction, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ (are in Him), Who is Abraham's Seed, then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise."
Not one Christians has more of an inheritance, than any other Christian. Romans 8:17 (Amplified) says, "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."
If you really want to share in His suffering, then begin walking in the Promise and inheritance like He did. Suffering and persecution will surely follow. Most of the religious leaders persecuted Jesus, at every instance of His ministry. Jesus always did things on the "wrong" day, at the "wrong" time, and not according to the customs of the Law. Jesus fulfilled the Law, but because of His Love and Grace, Jesus never violated even one part of the Law. He did though, transgress traditions that had nothing to do with Law.
These man-made laws cannot hold a man who walks by Grace and faith in the inheritance of the Promise God made to the Seed. The Promise was made to Abraham and his Seed, singular, Who is Jesus. Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."
Notice, the above scripture says, "So that we through faith." Let's reread Romans 4:16 (Amplified), which says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith in order that it may be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable, and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants." Paul writes about growing our faith in Romans 1:17 (Amplified) saying, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes [this is God's Righteousness that we've received by faith and was granted us by Grace], is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith, that arouses to more faith."
This faith is a living force of Grace, that is to develop us from simply religion to reality and relationship with the Father. It's the Promise that was delivered through Jesus, to all who will believe or have faith, in what Grace has made available to us in Him. It's not just "another teaching" and it's a subject that should divide the Church. It should unite the Church. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) tells us, "Out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with." We're joint heirs or fellow heirs with Jesus and through Him, we have all received."
Many haven't dared to go against the traditions of men and step into the inheritance of Jesus, but it's available to all who go from faith to faith. When you were born-again, the inheritance was made yours, but it must be "disclosed through the way of faith." The Holy Spirit will disclose this inheritance to you, if you come to Him in faith to receive.
Ephesians 4:12-13 (Amplified) says, "His intention was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building Christ's Body (the Church) That it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that we might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's Own perfection, the measure of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him."
All this comes from and by faith that grows from one level of faith to another level of faith. Our faith is "in Him" and only faith in Him can reveal Him as He is. You can't have faith for healing, without faith and knowledge of the Healer. Without faith in your inheritance, you won't receive the manifestation of such things as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or the Power of His Name, even though they are already yours. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace."
God's will is Grace and Truth.
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