Lesson 190 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."
     These Spiritual Blessings that came through Jesus, are for us today and not just for when we die and go to Heaven.  Heaven has come to us.  All of the Blessings God gave to the First Adam, have now come into play for the believer, in our new creation spirit.  This Spiritual Blessing is once gain brought from God's Kingdom, into this natural earth and life.  God has now restored His original Plan for His children, through His Grace in Jesus.  We can walk in and live in God's original Plan.  He can be our God and we can once again, be His children.
     Mankind was separated from God in the spirit, because of Adam's transgression, until Jesus and the new covenant.  God could only move from the outside, by the people's obedience to His Law.  If they kept the Law, then God could Bless them, but if they didn't adhere to it, then the Law of Sin and Death would rule over them.  If we walk in the Truth of Christ Jesus, in this day of salvation, then Grace replaces Law for us.  In Him, we did as He did and have fulfilled the Law, so it no longer pertains to us.  Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging of guilty of wrong), for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictate 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."
     The above scripture isn't some pretty text, but is Truth to those who've received and accepted Jesus and His Righteousness.  We are no longer in our righteousness, but we're now in His Righteousness.  Paul showed us this, when he writes about the difference between the dictates of the flesh and the dictates of the Spirit.  Our flesh will dictate how sinful we once were, but the Spirit will dictate to us, how righteous we've become in Jesus.
     We must understand what Jesus tells His followers in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), where He said, "But seek, aim at, and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."  God's way is the only way to have His Righteousness and His Kingdom, through Jesus Christ.  Righteousness come only one way and that's through Jesus Christ and His Righteousness.  The only way we can be counted righteous, is by faith in what Jesus did on our behalf, to obtain our righteousness.
     The things written in these blogs, aren't things we need to do, but things we need to know.  It's hard to believe in what God has done through Jesus, if we don't know what He has done.  The Blessing Promised to Jesus through Abraham, is now ours already.  We are Blessed, in Jesus.  Genesis 27:33 (Amplified) says, "Then Isaac trembled and shook violently, and he said, Who? Where is he who has hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate of it all before you came and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."
     The blessing cannot be revoked, once is has been put into operation.  It cannot leave those who are Blessed.  Isaac mistakenly placed the Blessing on his son Jacob, through Jacob's deception and the Blessing remained on Jacob.  God Blessed the First Adam in the Garden and that Blessing remained in the earth, until the Last Adam.  Through the Last Adam Jesus, this Blessing is still in full reign, for those who are in Him.  Like the First Adam, we've been deceived into thinking that we can gain the Blessing, by works.  We've already been Blessed in all Spiritual Blessing and everything Heaven Blessed us with, in Jesus.  Satan told Eve, "If you eat this, then you'll become like God."  Adam and Eve were already like God, because He made them in His Image and Likeness.  We're already like our Father, because we are of His Seed, the Word of God.  Genesis 1:11 (Amplified) says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation (plants), yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit who's seed is in itself, each according to its kind upon the earth, and it was so."
     Jesus told us in "The Parable of the Sower" that words are seed and the Seed of God's Word always produces after kind."  1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) says, "You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God ."  This Seed will always produce after kind.  As the Seed, Jesus will always produce sons and daughters in the household and family of God, His children in His Likeness and in His Image.  Everything produces after kind.
     This is why it's so important that we speak God's Word, in our lives.  We can't speak the Curse over our lives, and reap the Blessing, because every seed (word) will produce after kind.  Whether you're saved or unsaved, you'll reap corn if you sow or plant corn.  This is the Law of Genesis and it still works today.  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."
     These aren't things we must do, in order to receive, but there are things we must know, which will allow the Promises to flow in our lives.  We're the only ones who can stop the Promises in our lives and we mostly do so, because we lack of understanding.  The only thing required to do, is to believe and accept what Grace and Truth has already done.  We crowd out the good Seeds we sow, by sowing or speaking wrong seed.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:35 (Amplified), "The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things; and the evil man out of the inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things."
     The word "evil," doesn't always refer, "Bad sinners and ungodly people," but it means the opposite of Truth and faith.  It means, "Diseased, derelict, calamitous, wickedness or twisted from Truth."  All these words (seeds) that are sown out of lack of understanding, will still produce after kind.  Jesus cautioned us to "Rightly divide the Word of Truth" and "Be careful what we hear," in His Parable.  We don't want all the seeds or words we speak, to produce in our lives.  When we understand the importance of words in our lives, it becomes easier for the Blessing to produce the Truth, in our lives.  We're the only ones who can stop or hinder the Blessing, in our lives.  Satan can't and God won't.
     We have to make the choice whether we will agree with God's Word or disagree with it.  The words that we speak and plant in our heart, will determine what we reap.  We can't put trust in the Curse to perfect us and then trust in Jesus, Who has already perfected us.  Jesus said, "Be careful what we hear."  Don't allow certain words or seeds to produce in your heart.  Galatians 6 tells us that, "A man reaps what he sows, from the flesh (wrong seed) or from the Spirit (God's Truth and Seed)."  We're in charge of our hearts and what grows in our garden there.
     Proverbs 4:23-24 (Amplified) says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life. Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and willful and contrary talk put far from you."  Be careful what you hear and what you say, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and out of the abundance of speech, grows a harvest of good or bad.  Know this.  Understand this.  Speak only God's Word and receive more of the measure of the Power of the Spirit, in your life.
     How can this principal be so simple in the natural realm, while seeming so difficult in the Spirit realm?  Most people understands the basics of sowing and growing a garden, in the natural realm.  They know that corn produces corn and beans produce after their kind, which are beans.  The lack of understand makes this seem confusing, in our Christian walk.  Don't choke out the harvest of Blessing in your life, by sowing wrong seeds in your heart.    

Lesson 189 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."
     Today is America's "National Day of Prayer," and I would admonish all those know to pray, to pray as the Word tells us to pray.  It doesn't matter whether you identify as a Baptist, Catholic or an Evangelical, we are all one in Christ Jesus and can pray for our country.  1Timothy 2:1-4 (Amplified) says, "First of all, then, I admonish and urge that petitions (prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving) be offered on behalf of all men. For kings [or presidents] and all who are in positions of authority or high responsibility, that outwardly we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life, and inwardly a peaceable one in all Godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way. For such praying is good and right, and it is pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior. Who wishes all men to be saved and increasingly to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the Divine Truth."
     It doesn't matter which political party is in office to Christians.  We just want our nation to be moved by God, into an Awakening.  We must not allow the world to determine who is to lead America, but pray that our leaders are under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Many Christians have moved into a party faction, just like the world has, and have allowed many ungodly laws and statutes to be passed by our government. 
     I want to encourage you to not be dismayed, by what you think is a lack of faith among our countrymen and women.  I found it difficult to color inside the lines, when I was 3 or 4 years old.  It seemed like I would never be able to control the crayon, but with my teacher's help, I finally was able to do this.  Then I had to learn, count and work with numbers and letters.  These things seemed to be beyond my ability to know, at the time.
     We've heard many things about Christianity, which leads us to have "crayon faith" in.  If you begin to diligently and constantly study God's Word, from where you are now, then you'll eventually walk naturally Super-natural.  We don't struggle to color, count or do the small things anymore.  Sometimes though, we are overwhelmed because we try painting a portrait, before we know how to color inside the lines.  Hebrews 5:14 (Amplified) tells us, "But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to distinguish and discriminate between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to Divine or human Law."
     In order to become disciples and students of God's Word, we must develop consistency by training and practicing our mental faculties and senses by God's Word.  2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes Answer in Him, Christ, For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."  God's Word and His Promises are all Yes and Amen, to His Own Praise and Glory.
     Many give up and resign their faith because they're still training their natural senses.  We start growing in faith, from where our faith is.  Many believers still find it difficult to believe we've been made righteous, by faith in Jesus and His Righteousness.  Go to God's Word to find our about our righteousness in Jesus and when you know that He has made you righteous, then you can get past your old sin nature and begin putting faith in the fact that you now have the ability to enter into God's Presence and His Throne Room of Grace.  You will have faith that God has accepted and sees you as being righteous and in right standing by Jesus.
     The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write in Romans 1:17 (Amplified), "For in the Gospel a Righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed 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."    
     Your faith must begin, with believing that Jesus has made you to be righteous.  No one can become righteous on his/her own, it must be accepted by faith in Jesus Christ.  Once your faith accepts His Righteousness, then old condemnation of your own righteousness is put away and you can begin accepting the Promises God made to the righteous, by faith.  Remember that, "The righteousness that God ascribes is revealed, " according to Romans 1:17.  This is what God accepts as righteous and in right standing with Him.  When your faith is established in the Truth of His Righteousness, you can have boldness by faith, to enter into God's Presence.  And, you can put faith in what God has Promised to you, in Jesus.
     So long as you "try to be righteous," you're not walking in faith and receiving God's ascribed righteousness, because it must by by faith in the works of Jesus.  We cannot be righteous on our own or by our own works.  We are righteous in God's eyes, because we put faith in the works of Jesus and His Righteousness.  One of the greatest hindrances to our faith, is our sin conscience and our lack of understanding the Finished Work of Jesus.  No one can come into God's Holy Presence with a sense of unrighteousness and unworthiness befalling them.  Even though we know that we're not righteous within ourselves, we must put faith in Jesus and accept His Righteousness, so we can enter into God's Presence.
     When you receive your righteousness by faith in God's Word and works through Jesus, your faith will be able to accept the Promises God made to the righteous.  Romans 1:17 tells us that, "Righteousness is revealed through faith in God's Word."  This is God's way of doing and being right (righteous).  Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But see, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right) AND THEN all these things taken together will be given you besides."
     It must come by faith and not by works or Law.  This is Grace.  Until this first point where faith is settled in your heart, you will always be in the Outer Court, instead of His Presence.  You're righteous in God's eyes through Jesus, but you lack faith in the Finished Word of Jesus, so you sadly don't enter into God's Throne Room of Grace and mercy.  God's not holding back on us, but we're not receiving the things that He has already given us.
     We grow in our faith and trust in God's Word.  We all receive and believe that we're going to Heaven when we die, but we struggle at the Truth that we've been made righteous already.  Do you know that there is no unrighteousness in Heaven?  If we're not righteous and in right standing with God, then how will we become righteous after we die?
     The Truth is that when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we died already and the old sinful person died the death of the cross with Him and a new creation man was raised in the place of the old, sinful person's place.  The new creation man has no sin and unrighteousness, because Jesus became our sin Bearer and He bore the death of our sins.  We've been born again and been made new creation.  We weren't just patched up, but were made new, according to 2Corinthians 5:17, 20-21 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrated in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed awa. Behold! the fresh and new HAS COME."    
     Verses 20 goes on, saying, "So we are Christ's ambassadors God making His appeal as it were through us),We, as Christ's personal representatives beg you For His sake to lay hold of the Divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God."
     Through the Sacrifice of His Own Son Jesus, God has reconciled Himself to mankind.  We however, have failed to be reconciled to Him, by placing faith and trust in His offer of peace and righteousness.  We still don't trust in God's offer of reconciliation and right standing with Him.  Verse 21 says, "For out sake He made Christ virtually to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become, endued with, viewed as being in and examples of the Righteousness of God, what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His Goodness."
     This scripture tells us that, "In and through Jesus, God has made us to be endued with, viewed as being and examples of the Righteousness of God, what we ought to be."  "What we ought to be," is what God always meant us to be.  We need to reconcile ourselves to the Truth that He has already reconciled us to Himself through His Righteousness.  When we don't understand what righteousness is truly about, we don't enter into His Presence and Goodness.  Righteousness isn't a feeling, it's a place of right standing with God and a right to stand in His Presence.
     We've looked at righteousness from man's viewpoint, instead of God's viewpoint.  When Adam fell from Grace in the Garden, man lost his place of standing in God's Presence.  Before the fall, God and Adam walked, talked and moved together.  Heaven came to earth and united earth with Heaven.  Adam could enter God's Presence anytime.  He was always in right standing or had the right to be in God's Presence.  This was God's Plan and His will, from the beginning.
     Adam's fall resulted in man's no longer having the right to enter into God's Presence, like he previously did.  Now, it required the sacrifice of bulls and goats, for man to even approach God.  Jesus broke the wall of petition and flesh,  by giving Life again into our new creation man.  He restored man back into the place by His Sacrifice.  We now have the right again, to stand in the Presence of our Father, as His family.  This is reconciling ourselves back to Him by faith in His Goodness.  Don't allow the word "righteousness" discourage you, but reconcile yourself to Him.  Take your place in His Presence, as His child.
     Our lack of understanding this, has kept the Father from lavishing us, with the things He prepared for His children in Eden.  God's will for His family has never changed.  From the time God said, "Let us make man in Our Image and Likeness, and let him have dominion over all things in the earth."  Through Jesus, God's will and Plan have been continued again.
     God's will and heart towards the First Adam is exactly what the Last Adam Jesus, brought back to mankind.  We can't allow the world's religion or the senses (flesh) to keep us from reconciling ourselves back to Him.  Paul gives a strong Word to the Church, in 2Corinthians 5:20 (Amplified), saying, "We beg you for His Sake, lay hold of the Divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God."
     It might sound like foolishness to the natural man, but all that Jesus did, was for God's Sake.  The Father wanted us back and was willing to do whatever it took to do so.  Now, we must reconcile ourselves back to Him, for His Sake.  He has done all that was necessary to reconcile Himself back to us and only now, by our faith, can His Grace move toward us.
     Everything now depends on our trusting in His Sacrifice of Reconciliation and placing faith in His Grace.  This was and is all for His Sake.  We couldn't reconcile ourselves or become righteous.  The only way God could get His children back, was by shedding His Own Blood.  God sent His Only Begotten Son, in order to satisfy His heart of Love, so He could pass and declare peace on earth.  Luke 2:14 (Amplified) tells us, "Glory to God in the Highest Heaven, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well-pleased, men of good will of His favor."
     God offered the peace of Himself to men and now it's up to men, to accept this peace and reconcile it in Jesus.  God has declared a Peace Covenant to mankind, by His Peace Offering of Jesus.  Man had never reconciled themselves to Him and warred against Him.  His Grace still offered right standing and acceptance through Jesus, though.  All that He requires of us, is to reconcile ourselves to Him.  He has, for His Sake, taken care of everything else.
     God laid before us, "Life, death, Blessing and curse," leaving us to make the choice between these things in Deuteronomy 30:19.  This is reconciling ourselves back to right standing with Him by choice.  God has already chosen Life and Blessing for us, if we will only accept them.   

Lesson 188 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."
     For years there have been teachings about faith, Blessings and the Goodness of God, which are portrayed as being "pie in the sky."  Others though, receive these things as being part of the believer's walk with the Father.  Some think these teachings about the Promises of God and His Goodness are "foolishness" and only those with "hyper faith" can walk in them.  Allow me to qualify what they mean by "hyper faith."  Hyper faith is someone who trusts God more than they do.  No one can have too much faith in God.
     The main difference in the faith of believers, is what the individual walks in.  Some feel that being saved is all that's required for them, while others go a step further and are baptized by the Holy Spirit.  Many of those believers stop at speaking in tongues and do so sparingly.  Others strive to know God and want to sit at His feet in fellowship with Him.
     God spoke a Word in Deuteronomy 30:19 (Amplified) that still applies to us today.  Thus, He said, "I call Heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you Life and death, the Blessing and the curses, Therefore choose Life, that you and your descendants may Live."  This scripture makes it clear that the choice is ours to make.  God doesn't make the choice.  We do.  God emphasized this, saying, "Therefore choose Life."
     You'd be amazed to know how many Christians don't choose Life.  They actually continue doing the opposite and then are angry with God, when the curses and death operate in their lives.  Faith isn't some teaching about healing or prosperity, tongues or anything else.  Faith is a guide to knowing God and having faith in Him, which is where all these other things come from.  We must learn to have faith in the Healer, instead of just trying to have faith for healing.
     Not every Christian spends time in God's Word and getting to know Him.  This isn't sin, but it doesn't necessarily bring faith.  The Lord corrected me about this very thing, when I was preparing for Sunday service.  He said to me, "You are in error."  He didn't say, "You're in sin," but that I was "in error."  My first response was, "I rebuke that in the Name of Jesus," because I wondered how I could possibly be in error, when I was reading God's Word.  God then said, "You're not studying, in order to learn of Me, but you're doing so, just to have something to preach."  I realized that when we study to know Him, we will always have something to teach, because we're seeing more of Him.
     You're reading today's lesson, which is based on my spending time in God's Presence.  You can learn from this, but you must still spend time with God, for this to become Truth and Revelation in your life.  God has set teachers in the Church, who train-up and minister to His family.  All ministry is not to the Church, but comes from the Church, according to Ephesians 4:12 (Amplified), which says, "God's intention was the perfecting and full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), that they should do the work of ministering toward building up Christ's Body (the Church)."
     God's Word is Truth, but not everyone is walking in Truth, because they lack understanding.  When we don't understand something, then it's almost always misused.  Wisdom comes through God's Word, while understanding comes through the Spirit...it's called Revelation.  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)."  Notice that discernment, comprehension and understanding are also listed in 1Corinthians 12, as Spiritual things that come by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit gives these things for individual use by each person and not just for ministry.
     One can read God's Word and it is Wisdom, but without understanding, it's only intellectual knowledge.  Without Revelation, it's only a religious exercise and not understanding.  There are many man-made doctrines based on God's Word, that have no Revelation at all.  We each have the privilege of coming to know the Father for ourselves.  We can only know Him by His Word and His Spirit, because He is a Spirit Being, according to John 4:24 (Amplified) which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth (reality)."
     The above scripture tells us that God's Word is Truth and reality.  The reality is Revelation, that comes by Truth and worship.  The word "worship," is derived from a word that means, "Worth ship."  What is His worth, in your life?  Worth ship, comes when you truly have Revelation of His Person here in this life and not only after we leave this planet.  How much is He worth to you, here in this life?  How much time and thought do you, as an individual, give to Him?  How much time do you spend meditating on His Word, on a daily basis?
     This isn't religion, but it's relation.  It's up to each individual, to build a relationship with the Father.  Preachers and teachers can show us the principals from God's Word, but we must pursue the Truth of His Word and make it Revelation in our lives.  The Holy Spirit can and will bring Revelation to you, but you must still seek Him out, in understanding.  We're not just a people who follow a doctrine, we're God's family.  The same Father Who birthed you, birthed me and He loves us all the same.  What is mine, is yours too.  It's not based on who we are, but on Who He Is.
     Having a personal walk with the Lord, is the greatest thing we can have in this life.  We can know for ourselves, what His will and purpose is in this life.  When you hear or read a teaching, then you should go to God's Word and seek Truth, to see whether or not it's Truth.  If it is God's Truth, then we must go to Him for further Revelation.
     Don't depend solely on your pastor or teacher, to do it for you.  Take what's being taught and then apply it in your own life.  Go to God's Word for Wisdom and come into His Presence for understanding.  Let Him show you the Power of what His Word says, by His Spirit.  We've lost much of the Truth and Revelation of God's Greatness, which has led to a lack of healing and miracles in today's world.  Even when the old covenant people saw God's Power, they forgot His Greatness.  Today, we speak about His Greatness, but haven't witnessed much of His Power.  We can really know Him on a personal level and the Power of His Resurrection, by Revelation knowledge and fellowship with Him.
     Paul wasn't satisfied to stop his walk with God, where everyone else stopped, but he wrote in 2Corinthians 12:1 (Amplified), "I will go on to further Revelation."  Paul never found a place to stop, while he was still on this side of Heaven.  How much Revelation is enough for you?  Are you content with only knowing what you know now?  It this as much Revelation of the Most High, you'll ever have or will you go on to further Revelation?
     Disciples and students desire to become like the one who is teaching them.  No one would like to have a surgeon, who only attended one year of med school or board a plane, where the pilot never learned how to land a plane.  We expect quality and perfection from those who serve us, so shouldn't God be able to expect these from us too?  We expect perfection in Him, so shouldn't He expect our best?  Excellence is the best we have to give, but excellence is based on how much time and effort we give it.
     God's Promises are no longer promises to the believer, but they are now Truth.  These Promises have all been met in Jesus and are now fact and Truth for us.  We're waiting for these Promises to become "real," but we don't even know what the Promises are.  The Promise of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 3:15, didn't just mean the Day of Pentecost and speaking in new tongues.  The Promise was that the Holy Spirit would come to live in us and deliver and fulfill all the Promises of God (Who is Spirit), into our natural lives today.  The Spiritual Blessings we read about in John 1:17, come by and through, the Holy Spirit.

Lesson 187 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."
     Abraham was Blessed, because of his faith in God's Word.  Abraham trusted God's Word to him and because of this, the Seed that God Promised came into this world and brought about our own deliverance.  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."
     Romans 4:18-19,21 (Amplified) says, "For Abraham, human reason for hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations as he had been Promised, so numberless shall your descendants be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered the utter impotence of his own body which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's deadened womb."  Verse 21 says, "Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised."
     God used this one man's faith, to bring forth the Promise of Jesus and restore the Blessing back into the earth and all His Seed.  Galatians 3:29 (Amplified) says, "And if you belong to Christ, are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed, then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to the Promise."
     2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, 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."
     God speaks forth the Promise of the virgin birth of Jesus, that was to become the Promise to Abraham and us, through Jesus, in Genesis 3:15 (Amplified), which says, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring. He will bruise and read your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel."
     This was the beginning of the Promise that is ours by faith in Jesus.  God spoke the virgin birth and the death of Jesus to satan that day, saying, "You will lie in wait and bruise His heel."  God began speaking forth the Promise of the Seed (Jesus), in every book of The Bible.  The things we read about in the old covenant, are Promises of the Seed.  As God spoke these Promises into His Word, He formed Jesus, from His birth to His death and to His rise in All authority and power, both in Heaven and in earth."  Matthew 28:18 (Amplified) says, "Jesus approached and breaking the silence, said to them, All authority, all power of rule, in Heaven and earth has been given to Me."
     This isn't a Promise any longer, but is now Grace and Truth, because of Jesus' Resurrection.  It was a Promise for centuries, but it's now Truth.  One might ask, "What's the difference?"  Once a promise is fulfilled, it's no longer future.  Paul writes in Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified), "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 faith Abraham had in God's Promises, wasn't revealed to his senses.  He was 100 years old and Sarah was in her nineties.  Sarah had never bore a child, even during her youth.  Abraham had to stand in faith for God's Promise, believing God could and would do what He said.  Sarah didn't believe it could be done through her and encouraged Abraham to accomplish this Promise by himself, through another woman named Haggar.
     If we stagger at God's Promise to us through Jesus, then we're still not trained in our senses.  God is able and Mighty to keep His Word and do what He Promised.  Genesis 3:22 (Amplified) says, "God said, Behold, the man has become like Us, the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, to know how to distinguish between good and evil and Blessing and calamity."  Before eating from the forbidden Tree, Adam and Even knew only Blessing and good.  God never intended for mankind to know death, sorrow, disease, sickness, failure or any other such things.  Man only needed to know what the Father taught him, before the fall.
     Today, we're taught that "God uses these things to teach us," because we've failed to appropriate the Truth of His Promises.  Jesus didn't "learn" how to walk with His Father by suffering all these things in His life.  Jesus simply allowed the Father to direct Him.  Jesus only suffered these things on the cross, so we could walk in the same Promise He walked in and brought to pass for us.  This is Grace and Truth.
     We've seemingly lost sight of the fullness of this Truth and Grace and have accepted a lie that, "The Curse is our teacher," instead of walking in the Blessing Jesus came to fulfill.  Jesus is the Promise made Truth.  It's no longer a Promise to those who are born-again, but it's Truth.  A promise is future, a Truth is now.  Paul said that, "Now faith is the assurance, the title deed, the confirmation of things we hope for (Promise)."  This Promise is Truth.  It's the title deed, assurance and confirmation and it's now ours by faith, just like it was with Abraham.
     We read about the Law of Truth in Malachi 2:5-6 (Amplified), where God says, "My covenant, on My Part with Levi, was to given him life and peace, because on his part of the reverent and worshipful fear (awe and respect) with which the priests would revere Me and stand in awe of My Name The Law of Truth was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from iniquity."
     Notice that this Law of Truth was in the mouth of Levi and unrighteousness wasn't found in him..  We've been made righteous and God finds no unrighteousness in us, because of Jesus.  We must put this Law of Truth in our mouths and speak as the Redeemed of the Lord.  John 8:31-32 (Amplified) tells us, "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 (students). And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."  Jesus tells His followers in John 6:33 (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."
     God's Words are Truth, not what the flesh says.  We've heard many carnal sermons preaches about "the flesh," throughout the years.  We've now become like God said about Adam, knowing the difference between good and evil, Blessing and calamity.  We can now distinguish between good and evil, Blessing and calamity, and walk in the Law of Truth, by God's Word.  Paul writes about training the senses by the Word of Truth in Hebrews 5:14 (Amplified) saying, "But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary to Divine or human Law."  Without training, your senses or untamed flesh, will not distinguish between what is contrary to Divine or human Law.
      Paul writes about renewing your mind, by God's Word in Romans 8:7 (Amplified).  He says we have to train our senses by the Law of Truth, so like Levi, it is what we speak.  Today's Church has spent so much time trying to correct our senses, instead of training them.  The senses will rebel against Truth, like they did before being born-again, unless we train them and renew our minds with God's Word.  Thus, Paul writes, "The mind of the flesh (senses) with its carnal thoughts and purposes, is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law, indeed it cannot."  Our senses won't just go along with the new creation Life, but must be trained by the Law of Truth.
     The things of the flesh aren't all sin, but they're not Truth.  Your flesh knows nothing about the things of God, but your spirit does.  Your flesh or senses will continue life in the only way it knows how.  Your flesh has long since forgotten that God put healing inside it, instead it resigns itself to sickness and disease as being part of normal life.  We've allowed the senses to rule the spirit and have reaped the consequences of it, which are death and disease.
     I'm not talking about staying out of sin, because most Christians do this upon being saved.  I'm talking about training the flesh and senses, so that they now oppose anything that goes against the Law of Truth and they line-up with the Law of Truth.  Our flesh responds to the things we think and say.  We can train parrots, dogs and other animals to respond to the commands we speak, so why don't we believe we can train our senses to respond to the words we speak?  We must speak Blessing over and to ourselves and not speak the Curse.
     Let's dare to be like Abraham, who was fully satisfied and assured that God is able and mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised.  This Promise is now Truth, because Jesus fulfilled it.  God backs His Promise, by His Name and Integrity.  God's Word is Truth.  Jesus tells us that, "The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth," in John 14:17.  Let's learn to listen to Him about the Blessing of Abraham and how it's been restored to us, in Jesus.  This is the same Blessing that God pronounced on the first Adam and has brought to pass, in the Last Adam Jesus.  There was no Curse pronounced on God's children at the beginning in the Garden of Eden.  We've been returned to Eden, by Jesus. 

Lesson 186 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     During His "Parable of the Sower," Jesus didn't say that the "Seed failed," but that "it didn't bear fruit in all that heard it."  The Word is called the "incorruptible, immortal, Ever Living, Ever Lasting Seed," in 1Peter 1:18 (Amplified), saying, "You must know (recognize), that you were redeemed (ransomed) from the useless, fruitless way of living inherited by tradition from your forefathers, not with corruptible things as silver and gold. But you were purchased with the Precious Blood of Christ (the Messiah)."
     The Truth is that the Law of Truth, is forever settled in Heaven.  The Seed (God's Word) is incorruptible and it will produce sons and daughters every time it's sown in someone's heart.  The fruit it bears in this life, is determined by the Truth they accept and hear.  Jesus admonished in Mark 4:24 (Amplified), "Be careful what you are hearing. The measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you (fruit), and more besides will be given to you who hear."
     God's Word is a Seed, according to John 12:24 (Amplified), where Jesus says, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you; Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain; it never becomes more but lies by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest."  Jesus Christ is the Seed and Truth and He has brought forth a harvest of many billions of children for God.  Truth never fails to produces what it says.  We've sown seed that isn't Truth, which is enmity against God, by our own carnal thinking.  Only Truth will prevail in the Kingdom and only Truth will prevail in our lives here on earth.
     When we pray Truth, then that prayer will always bring forth results.  When we pray in any other way, then we can't expect God to honor it, because it's not Truth.  We must find out what God says and then pray according to that.  John 4:24 (Amplified) tells us, "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being) and those who worship Him, must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  Worship is more than singing a hymn.  Worship is a way of Life and Truth.
     Denying what God's Word says about us, is tradition and not Truth.  We're to follow God's Word as it's spoken to us in Truth and by the Spirit of Truth.  We've learned many things throughout the years, that aren't Truth, but are man's carnal ideas about what Truth is.  None would say that, "God lied to me," but we continually make excuses for why His Word doesn't work.  It's pride that won't allow us to believe we're wrong and that God doesn't lie and in that pride, we device excuses for why God's Word doesn't work in our lives.
     God has provided everything we'll ever need while on earth and for eternity, in our salvation.  Get a Concordance to look up the True meaning of "salvation" and then walk and be led in the Law of Truth.  We can choose to walk in Truth, despite what others think and/or do.
     Today, we mostly preach about being born-again, when proclaiming the Gospel.  This is certainly Good News (the best news ever), but it's not the full meaning of salvation.  God provided healing, peace, son ship, the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, understanding, prayer and the ability to pray, and the Truth of answered prayer, in His provision of salvation.  We're now heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Himself, having a place at God's table.  We have the Power of His Name, the ability of speaking in tongues and fellowship with Him, the Indwelling of God's Love and a place at His right hand in His Throne Room of Grace.  All of God's Promises are now Yes and Amen to His Praise for us, both here and when we go to Heaven.
      Salvation is God meeting our every need, for both here and hereafter, by His abundance.  The Law of Truth holds the universe in place and keeps the earth turning.  God's Word is Truth and His Word is Jesus, they're both One and the Same.  Knowing Jesus is knowing Truth and knowing Truth is knowing the Father.  John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "Then they said to [Jesus], Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me, if you knew Me you would know My Father also."
     Most of us have this scripture memorized, but continue to accuse the Father of allowing, applying, and sending sickness, calamity and trouble on us, in order to discipline us.  We've never accuse Jesus of doing such a thing.  Jesus said though, "If you know Me, then you would also know the Father."  Could it be that we don't know Him?  We might know about Him from multiply sources, but have we truly tried knowing Him for ourselves?  Salvation is a personal thing with God and should be personal with us.  It's not that "He so Loved the world," but "We so Loved Him."  When loving someone, you wish to spend time with that person, in order to know their every need and heartbeat.
     Philippians 3:10-11 (Amplified) tells us how Paul received Revelation knowledge directly from Jesus and was translated into God's Own Presence.  Paul's determined prayer and quest was, "For my determined purpose is, That I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the Power out flowing from Him Resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share in His sufferings as to be continually transformed in Spirit into His Likeness, even to his death, in the hope that if possible I may attain to the Spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body."
     Jesus said this, saying, "Those who worship the Father must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."  The only way to worship Him in truth, is to intimately know Him for ourselves.  We come to know Him from understanding and experiencing in Spirit and Truth.  Paul compares this relationship to that of a husband and wife relationship in Ephesians.  Marriage is an intimate relationship that two people in love, share.  The two become one, in marriage.  Your neighbor can't tell you about your spouse, only you know the deepest desires of your spouses' heart.  Not even family members can know your spouse, the way you do.
     This intimate relationship with the Father, comes by seeking Him and the Secret Councils of His heart.  Religion can tell you what others think they know about the Father, but you can know Him on a One-to-one basis.  You'll never doubt or question God's will of Grace and Truth for you life, once you know the Law of Truth for yourself.
     Do you know Him like that?  If you don't, then spend time in His Presence, seeking His heart and not just His hands.  Seek the Giver more than the giving.  Seek the Healer, more than the healing.  Learn to know Him and make Him the Love of your life, because that's what He truly is.  Jesus speaks to the Church in Revelations 2:4 (Amplified) which tells us, "But I have this one charge to make against you; that you have left (abandoned) the Love that you had at first, you have deserted Me, your First Love."
     We must never replace Who we know, for what we know.  Jesus is the Law of Truth and we must draw from Him for ourselves and not rely on others to do so for us.  We'll never fully experience God's Grace and Truth, until we experience it for ourselves.  The unclaimed riches of God's Grace await you.  Seek them out.  Your faith has never yet seen God's full Grace and His Love for you. 

Lesson 185 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."
     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 the, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
     Jesus tells us that, "The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-Giving Spirit)," in John 16:13 (Amplified).  Jesus prayed this in John 17:17 (Amplified), "Sanctify them (purify, consecrate, separate) them for Yourself, make them holy by the Truth, for Your Word is Truth."
     We sometimes wonder why prayer and God's Word "don't work like we see in The Bible."  We rely on our own way of doing these things and make them work in our lives.  We say, "God knows what I mean" and/or "If it be His will."  The above scripture tells us that, "Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ."  JESUS IS TRUTH.
     Many say, "God puts things on us, in order to teach us things," but Jesus said, "The Father and I are One."  I can't remember hearing anyone say, "Jesus made me sick, in order to teach me something."  Jesus and the Father are One, though.  These words are not Truth and they don't carry any weight in God's Kingdom.  In Malachi 2:6 (Amplified) God says, "The Law of Truth was in (Levi's) mouth and unrighteousness was not found in his lips, he walked with Me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from iniquity."
     We are to observe the Law of Truth, in our walk with God.  Most Christians believe that God's Word is Truth, but they exchange Truth for tradition.  Most have been taught that God uses sickness, which is the very thing Jesus bore on behalf while on the cross, instead of being taught that God teaches and chastises His people with His Word.  It would be a miscarriage of Justice, if God put sickness and hard times, on us.  Listen carefully to what Jesus tells His disciples, remembering that we are His disciples too, saying in John 15:1-3 (Amplified), "I am the Vine, and My Father is the Vine Dresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit (that stops bearing), He cuts away (trims off takes away), and He repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the Word which I have given you (the Teachings I have discussed with You)."
     Jesus tells us that, "He will never leave you or forsake you," so what does He mean when He says that "He trims off, takes away, and repeatedly prunes those who aren't bearing fruit" and how does He get more and better fruit?  By His Word and His teachings, which are His Truth.
     Jesus gives "The Parable of the Sower" in Mark 4:14-15,25 (Amplified) saying, "The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."  When there is no Revelation of Truth, the branches need pruned back and have Revelation applied to them, in order to bring forth more fruit.  The King James Version says, "He stakes up or ties up those branches that are not bearing fruit, so that they get more sunlight and will bear fruit."  I stake up the tomato plants in my garden, so the branches can withstand the weight of the tomatoes and make them able to receive sunlight.
     Jesus talks about seeds that have produced in the thorns and weeds, which He says are "The distraction of the age, cares and anxieties, which creep in to choke out the fruit."  The vine and branches are fine, but the fruit was diminished by other things.  Those who haven't been bearing fruit, will become bearers of fruit by His Truth and His Teachings, according to Verse 25, where Jesus says, "For to him who has, will more be given; and from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away by force."
     When God's Truth (His Word) has been planted and takes root in your heart, then you will become bearers of much fruit.  Many require pruning away and taking off the branch suckers (small branches that are taking life from the branch), in order to bear fruit.  The branch suckers are the religious traditions and the trials and cares of the world, which prevent the Light and Truth of God's Word from bearing more and better fruits, in our lives.
     Have you ever noticed how fruit trees in an orchid, have no branches below a certain level on the tree?  Those lower branches are would-be suckers that don't bear fruit, but suck life (nutrients, water) away from the branches that would bear fruit.  The orchard owner prunes and cuts these branches away, in order to grow more fruit.  We've heard so many things that aren't Truth over the years, which might have been taught with the right spirit, but took away from the good branches.  These teachings drew away the Life of God's Word, making it unproductive in the people's lives.
     Paul writes in 1Corinthians 3:9 (Amplified), "For we are fellow workmen (joint-promoters, laborers) together with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, you are God's building."  We've spoken against the Truth of God's Word, because of the traditions and religious things we've learned.  Paul admonishes, "Lie not against the Truth."  Many have read God's Word as Truth, but haven't received it as "Truth."  Many Christians deny the Truth that "We've been made to be the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus."  We've replaced the Truth of God's Word, with our own idea of truth and continue to see ourselves as being "old sinners in God's eyes."  This thinking diminishes our ability to pray, because of the Law of Truth that says, "You can't have faith God will hear, if you're still a sinner and have no place in Him, as His child."
     When we deny that we're made righteous in Christ Jesus, then we're denying the Law of Truth and diminishing the Truth that we have access to God's Throne Room of Grace and are able to obtain His mercy and Grace when we need it.  Only those who have been made righteous in His Own Righteousness, can have the right to come before Him.  This is Truth and when we don't accept it as Truth, it holds us back from having faith in your prayers being heard and answered.  Truth never changes, even though some doubt it.
     Faith is rooted, grounded and based on Truth.  When doubt enters in, faith drains out and Truth is shadowed in the believer's heart.  Can someone be righteous in God's eyes and not accept His Righteousness as Truth?  Yes.  God's Word is Truth, even thought the world and religion says it's no so.  If you've received Jesus as your Lord and savior, then you're now made righteous, with His Righteousness.  THIS IS TRUTH!  It is the Law of Truth and always works.  You might not understand or accept it as being Truth, because of traditional teachings, but in Him, you're still righteous before God.
     This is a lot of the pruning, that the Holy Spirit is cutting from the branches today.  He does this by God's Word and teachings of Truth, according to Romans 8:7-8,9 (Amplified) which says, "That is because the mind of the flesh, with its carnal thoughts and purposes is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. So then those who are living the life of the flesh (catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature) cannot please of satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him."  Paul continues writing about "Faith," to the people in the Church of Rome, saying in Verse 9, "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 in you, directs and controls you."  Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means, Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar."  The Law of Truth prevails, even when we refuse to accept it as Truth.
     The carnal appetites and impulses of the carnal nature, with its carnal mind, are suckers that the Holy Spirit and God's Word will prune, trim and remove.  Jesus said in John 8:32 (Amplified), "And you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."  Notice it says, "Will set you free."  I thought that, "Whomsoever the Son sets free is free indeed."  You are free, but when Truth isn't accepted as Truth, we find ourselves brought back into the bondage of man's religion and the doctrines of devils.  Only the Truth will set you free.  Once you're free, you must stay free  
     God's people had been in bondage for 400 years and were on their way to being freed in Exodus 14:12.  They had to be totally dependent on God, for the first time in 400 years, because the Egyptians clothed and fed them as their slaves.  When Moses led them out of Egypt, the Israelites had to cast aside the provisions of the Egyptians and wholly rely and have faith that God would provide for them.  When the enemy came down upon them, they forgot the Truth, which was the covenant God had made with Abraham.  They didn't believe God would or could fulfill His Promise to them, through the Abraham covenant. 
     Exodus 2:24 (Amplified) tells us, "And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob."  God remembered His part of the Law of Truth, but they forgot their part, which was believing in His Truth.  Exodus 14:14 (Amplified) says, "And they said to Moses, Did we not tell you in Egypt, Let us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the Wilderness."
     We maintain our freedom in God, based on His Truth, because "His Truth will set us free."  We've been made free by His Truth and only His Truth can keep us free.  The enemy constantly tries to hold back Truth from us, by religious rituals and creeds.  He tries using these things to overshadow the Truth, in order to bring us back under his bondage.  These are the branches that God's Word prunes and cuts off.  These are the suckers.

Lesson 184 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
     We're joint heirs with Jesus and everything that's His inheritance, is shared equally with us, according to the above scripture which says, "We have ALL received, ALL had a share, and were ALL supplied with these things."  God doesn't have favorites, but He shares equally with His children.  We see in today's Church, that some have accepted their portion and others haven't, even though we've all equally inherited.
     We've failed to understand what the Gospel has revealed to us and continue seeing ourselves as who we used to be, instead of who God has made us to be in the new creation.  Our new creation spirit man has been created righteous and clean, but we haven't renewed our soul, emotions or senses by God's Word.  Hebrews 5:14 (Amplified) says, "But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to Divine or human law."
     Every individual must train by practice, for him/herself.  No one cane train your senses, except you.  Jesus spoke of this same training in Mark 4:13,30-32 (Amplified), where He gave "The Parable of the Sower."  Thus, we read, "And He said to them, Do you not discern and understand this Parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the Parables?"
     This is the Seed Principle which directs us to sow, care for and watch over the words we hear and allow to be sown in our hearts.  This is the same Law or Principle that governs God's entire Kingdom.  Verses 30-32 says, "With what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what Parable shall we use to illustrate and explain it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown upon the ground is the smallest of all seeds upon the earth. Yet after it is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all garden herbs and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air are able to make nests and dwell in its shade."
     God's entire Kingdom works by this Law of the Seed Principle.  Jesus said, "Whosoever will either sow or allow the seed to be sown in their hearts, will always receive a harvest of whatever seed is sown."  The individual is to train their senses by practice and then watch over the seed, so it won't be stolen or choked out by weeds.  This is training the senses or the soul of the believer.
     When the Word speaks of the "flesh,' it almost always indicates the senses.  The flesh (body) can only do what the senses will allow it to do.  Our body doesn't just stand up or walk somewhere by itself, without first receiving instructions from our senses.  Your brain will only move by instruction from your senses.  When a person is comatose, the body is immobile, because the brain doesn't receive direction from the senses.  This leaves the body inactive, because the body responds to orders when the brain receives instruction.
     Training the senses, like Hebrews 5 says, is the ability to allow your senses to have control when you decide, instead of when the senses decide. We have the ability to allow or stop wrong emotions to dictate to our body or brain.  We can either act upon these emotions or senses, or not.  Your sense can't drive you into something that you don't permit yourself.  This is why Paul instructs us to "Train your senses, to only do what we allow by practice."
     Depression is an outside force of pressure that can or cannot move, until the senses do.  There is and always will be, pressure from the world to move us in a certain direction.  The world will always pressure us to move away from God, but if we train our senses or emotions to obey our spirit man, then we won't be driven by the world.  We will be led by the Spirit of God instead of our emotions.        
     Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) tells us, He restores my soul, and He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name sake."  When you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you were born-again and your spirit was given Life.  You were made righteous, by the Righteousness of Jesus.  Your body (flesh) doesn't do anything without commands or suggestion.  Your soul (emotions, senses) is where the problem is, in our new creation life. 
     The way we lived before knowing Jesus, is the way our senses or emotions had always been trained to react.  This was either positive or negative, depending on the circumstances.  Our spirit was dead in trespass and sin, before being saved.  We had very little help from our spirit man, because he was led by the spirit of disobedience and the prince of darkness.  Our senses (soul, emotions) led our body about, with very little effort.  We've fight with our spouse, over minute things that disturbed our emotions and we had very little control.  When things happened at work, our soul or emotions carried these things back home, where we vented on the family or even went to a bar to do so.
     Now that we're born-again and have been made alive in our spirit by the Holy Spirit, we can train our spirit man by God's Word and His Spirit.  Our senses then obey our spirit, instead of our spirit being dominated by the senses.  Paul instructed that we train our spirits, "by practice."  This means that we must practice the training and be diligent about what seeds are planted in our spirit, so that things won't choke out the Seed of God's Word and cause it to be unfruitful in our lives.  If you have no control over your senses, as a born-again child of God, then you'll always be under condemnation for things the senses dictate.
     Paul writes about the senses or emotions guiding our fleshly body and lives in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) saying, "There is therefore 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."  Our senses or emotions will try dictating your life and without training the senses, they will keep you under condemnation and bondage, for your entire Christian walk.  We must decide to either listen to the dictates of the flesh or senses, or listen to the dictates of the Spirit.
     Both will try leading and dictating to you, for as long as you remain on earth.  It's up to the individual believer, who we will listen to and who will direct our paths.  If we depend on outward pressure to lead us, then we place ourselves in jeopardy and peril, because Jesus said, "The thief will come to take away or steal the Word, bringing sickness, disease, and death."  We must not allow our flesh or senses or emotions to dictate our lives for us.   

Lesson 183 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."
     For many years, Christians have tried understanding God's will.  God never had a Plan B, but only a Plan A, when He created His family in His Image and Likeness.  God's will for His children has never changed from the first Adam to the Last Adam Jesus.  God's will for the first Adam was Blessing, Life and dominion and He will the same Blessing for the Last Adam.  God's will for us, was the exact same of Blessing, Life, dominion, family fellowship and being joint heirs with Jesus.  What God willed for the first Adam, was the same thing He willed for the Last Adam and what God willed for the Last Adam, is the same thing He wills for all who are in the Last Adam.
     When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they came out under Grace and not Law.  God's Grace met their every need and they lacked nothing.  When they didn't accept His Grace by faith, they sinned against God and limited Him.  God established the Law, so that He could put His will and Blessing to work in their lives.  It's true that it was based on their works or obedience, but the Law was still the Grace and Truth of His Word working to Bless and keep them.
     God made tithing under Law in Malachi 3, which was intended tot bring the people to a place, where God could Bless them.  God told them, "You have robbed Me in tithe and offerings," because they didn't pay their tithe, robbing God in His attempt to Bless them.  God told them that, "If you will bring all the tithe into My storehouse to prove Me, then I will open the windows of Heaven and pour out a Blessing upon you, more than you can even receive."
     God's will never changes from Genesis 1 to Revelations 22:21 (Amplified) which says, "The Grace, Blessing and favor of the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), be with all the saints (God's holy people, those set apart for God), to be as it were, exclusively His. Amen (So be it)."
     The above scripture tells us that God's Blessing for us has never changed.  Even though the Blessing is ours already, we can stop it from functioning like God intended, through our own actions.  This doesn't mean that God's Blessing isn't His will, but that we do things that cause the Blessing to not work like it should.  We've devised many excuses as to "why it doesn't work for us," but the real reason it doesn't work, is that our actions are preventing it from producing in our lives.
     Galatians 6:5-8 (Amplified) says, "For every person will have to bear, be equal to understand and calmly receive his own little load of oppressive faults. Let him who receives instructions in the Word of God, share all good things with his teacher, contributing to his support. Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He invariably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, 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, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint."
     The above scripture tells us why some things aren't working for some people.  Some have sown to the Spirit, while others have sown to the flesh.  Both receive a harvest, but the harvest isn't the same.  Working the Word in everyday life, is sowing to the Spirit, while being carnal in our walk with God, is sowing to the flesh.  Everyone reaps the harvest of what we sow.
     Operating in the Blessing is doing what we know is right in God's eyes.  Many things that we don't think about, hinder the Blessing.  Most of us don't realize that when we follow "The Golden Rule" of loving your neighbors as yourself and doing unto others as we would have them do to us, is sowing seed and brings harvest in our lives.  Many of us reap harvests that we don't wish to have.  God says, "For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap."
     We know this is Truth, even in the natural realm.  One can't sow Poison Ivy and reap roses.  We can't sow corn and reap wheat or oats.  We can't sow acorns and grow Palm trees.  Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower" in Mark 4, which is Heavenly Truth and can't be changed.  If you sow to the Word or truth of the Blessing, then you will receive Blessing.  If you sow into opinion or tradition, then you'll reap only opinions and traditions, which will stop the flow of Life and Blessing in your life.
     We've all heard teachings on, "The words of your mouth."  Some have disregarded this teaching and continue sowing words to the flesh and corruption.  Jesus likened words to seeds.  James writes about the tongue or words we speak in James 3:5-6 (Amplified), saying, "Even so the tongue is a little member, and it can boast of great things; See how much wood or how great a forest a tiny spark can set ablaze! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth (the cycle of man's nature), being ignited by hell (Gehenna)."
     God's Wisdom tells us above that, "Words can deprave, contaminate, and change the wheel of birth and the cycle of man's nature."  God placed natural healing in our bodies, when He created us.  We can set on fire or revers this cycle, by our tongue or the words we sow.  Jesus said, "Whatever a man sows, that and only that, is what he will reap."
     We can't speak, sow, and cultivate seeds of sickness, doubt, fear, and unbelief in our lives, and then expect the Words of Blessing to grow into a harvest.  God told us that, "He will not be mocked."  This Spiritual Law is even stronger in the Kingdom, than it is here on earth.  You can't speak words of the Curse of the Law into your heart and then continue reaping the Blessing, in your life.  This isn't some "half-baked, man-made theory," but is the Principle or Law of God's Kingdom.
     You can do what you wish to, but you can't change this Law of Sowing and Reaping, because it's a Law.  There are several Laws that Christians are to abide by, which don't include the Law of Moses, but Laws that govern Heaven, like the Law of Physics now govern earth.  Paul writes in Romans 3:27 (KJV), "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what Law, of works? Nay, but by the Law of faith."  Faith is a Law of the Kingdom and functions by itself as seed.
     We see two more Laws of the Kingdom, which we're to observe, in Romans 8:2 (KJV).  One is the Law of Sin and Death and the other is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.  When one is sown, it will grow up and cancel the other, when it's sown in our hearts.  When we're in the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and continually sow seeds of sin and death, "then we can set on fire the cycle of a man's nature and the wheel of birth," according to James 3:6.  If we continually sow words (seeds) of our own destruction, then we will continually grow destruction, in our lives, because we reap what we sow.
     Born-again people can sow corn and reap corn, but just because we're born-again, doesn't mean we can sow green beans and still reap corn.  We cannot change the nature of the seed.  In Malachi 2:6 (Amplified) God says, "The Law of Truth was in Levi's mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips, he walked with Me in peace and uprightness and turned many away from iniquity."  We have a Law of Love that we're supposed to sow, because it will produce God's Love when it's obeyed and grows in our hearts.  If we don't sow it, then we won't harvest it.  When someone talks about Law, don't assume they're talking about the Law of Moses.  They might be speaking about the Laws that govern God's Kingdom of love.
     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."  When God's Word is sown in man's heart, it will always bring forth born-again children of God.  When it's not sown in someone's heart, then it won't bring forth a harvest.  God's Word (Seed) is Ever Living and Lasting and can only be reaped, when it's sown.  God's entire Kingdom works on this same Law or principle of Seed time and harvest time.  We only reap what we sow, including salvation, healing and Blessing.

Lesson 182 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."
     According to our calendar, Easter has come and gone for this year and we sort of forget that every day is Resurrection Day for all those in Christ Jesus.  We read about the trial of Jesus in the Heavenly Court of Justice, in Zechariah 3.  The Name "Joshua," is pronounced "Yeshua" in Hebrew and is Jesus in English.
     Jesus was pronounced "guilty," by the mock trial of Herod and Pilate, but the True Court of Justice in Heaven, had a defense lawyer called, "the Angel of God."  When Jesus was brought back from the pit of punishment, He was brought back first in the spirit, according to 1Timothy 3:16 (Amplified), which says, "And great and important and weighty, we confess, is the hidden Truth (the Mystic secret of Godliness). He, God was made visible in Human Flesh, justified and vindicated in the Holy Spirit, was seen by angels preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in Glory."  Before Jesus' physical Body was raised from the dead, His Spiritual Body was brought forth into the Court of Justice, in the heavenlies.
     Satan was the prosecutor in Zechariah 3, bringing accusations against Jesus and the Angel of the Lord was appointed by God, presenting the Truth on Jesus' behalf.  Jesus was without sin and the charges brought against Him were only circumstantial.  The charges were therefore dropped, the case dismissed and Jesus was acquitted by the Courts of Justice.  Satan's railing false charges were brought about by man's court, adjudicated by Herod and Pilate and not by a Just judge.
     The charges were false, so death and separation couldn't hold Jesus any longer and His Body was raised with His innocent Spirit and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was found innocent of violating the Law of Sin and of Death, and death couldn't hold Him.  Jesus was clothed in our filthy rags of our own righteousness, which were removed and He was given the garments of His High Priestly garments.  The miter that was placed on His head was the crown of Righteousness on our behalf.  He paid our debt, for all who will believe.
     We've failed to see the legal aspect of our salvation and accepted our own righteousness in Him.  we still use the same scriptures about our righteousness "is filthy rags," but this is what He was clothed in before the Courts found Him innocent of any unrighteous doing.  Jesus had already paid the Price for sin and unrighteousness and was found innocent, so it would be "Double Jeopardy" and a miscarriage of justice, to punish those in Him.
     The legal grounds of our salvation, is based on the power of security in Jesus Christ.  God didn't leave any loop holes for the prosecuting attorney (satan), to open up and hold over all who are in Christ Jesus.  Satan can't return to his old ways and bring any accusations which will hold-up in the Court of Justice.  We've fallen under the courts of man, which are the same courts that wrongly judged Jesus.  We've allowed the Sanhedrin to judge us, instead of the Righteous Judge in Heaven's Court.  We now have a Defense Attorney Who will present our case to the Judge, for us.
     1John 2:1 (Amplified) says, "My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God's Law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have and Advocate, One who will intercede for us [our Defense Attorney] with the Father [the Judge]. It is Jesus Christ (the all Righteous, Upright, Just) Who conforms to the Father's will in every purpose, thought and action."
     We've observed religious motions and have missed the legal aspects of our Redemption.  God has Laws by which Heaven functions.  These Laws are more firm, than the laws governing earth and the earthly realm.  The Laws of Heaven are unchangeable and forever settled in Heaven.  This is the purpose and reason for going to God's Word and finding His way of doing and being right.  Jesus said 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) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
     God's Laws govern the entire universe, including the earth, and not just the Heavens.  When we apply His Laws to this earthly realm, the things around us must change to conform to His Laws.  Jesus proved this time and again, in His earthly ministry.  He defied the earthly laws, when He walked on water.  Death and sickness had to give way to His laws of health and healing and Life.  All Jesus' Power was in His Words and His Words were God's Law for mankind. 
     Much has been lost to us over the years, because we've allowed man's courts to govern the Court of Justice.  Man's laws and courts find us to be guilty still and subject to man's justice, which is the justice of the god of this world, who is the same judge that judged Jesus in Pilate's court.  Take your place in the Court of Justice, which is God's way of doing and being right, because it's the only place where Truth and Justice is the way it should be.  Don't allow the prosecuting attorney (the accuser of the brethren, satan) to state your case with circumstantial evidence, when we have our Advocate Jesus Christ as our Defense Attorney.
     You'll never receive a fair trial, in the courts and laws of the adversary.  God's Courts are not fair, they are Just.  Justice and fairness aren't the same thing.  Fairness is based on what we think, Justice is based on Mercy and Grace, according to Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified), which says, "Mercy and Loving Kindness and Truth have met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth and Righteousness shall look down from Heaven."  We have Someone Who is looking out for us from the Heavens and has come to lift up Truth, from the earth.  The Word of our Judge is Truth and is what our lives are based on.  We must lift up His Word from the earth and give our Advocate something to work with on our defense.  Don't always agree with the prosecuting attorney and plead "guilty," until you speak with your Lawyer.  God's Word says, "Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the enemy."   

Lesson 181 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."
     Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you think I am," in Matthew 16:16-19 (Amplified) where, "Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ (the Son of the Living God). Then Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate) and to be envied are you, Simon Barjonah. For flesh and blood, men, have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter (Greek-"Petros"-"a large piece of rock") and on this rock, (Greek-"Petros"-"a huge rock like Gilbraltar"), I will build My Church, and the gates of hades (the powers of the infernal regions, shall not overpower it (or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it). I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful on earth), must be what is already bound in Heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful on earth) must be what is already loosed in Heaven."
     Jesus didn't say that Peter was "the foundation or rock," that He would build His Church on, but He revealed the knowledge of God.  God was the One Who gave the Revelation, that Jesus was the Son of God.  This Revelation knowledge is the Keys of the Kingdom.  Jesus confirms this in Matthew 18:20 (Amplified) saying, "For wherever two or three are gathered together, drawn together as My followers in (into) My Name; There I Am in the midst of them."
     These Keys of the Kingdom, open every and all the doors of the Kingdom.  Jesus didn't say "the Key to the Kingdom, which would open the door to the Kingdom," but He said, "the Keys of the Kingdom which opens all the doors or secret places in the Kingdom."  Jesus Himself is the "Door," according to John 10:9 (Amplified) where He said, "I Am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out freely and find pasture."
     "Coming in and going out," indicates our seeing the different places of the Kingdom.  By faith in Jesus, we have Revelation of the entire Kingdom and not just the foyer.  Many have entered in, but have simply stood just inside the door or the foyer, never seeking out what the other Keys of Revelation offer God's children.  Many have never dared to come to the Throne of Grace, fearing they didn't belong.  The Keys of Revelation unlock the other Graces that God offers to us.  Jesus didn't only give the key to the front door, but He gave the Keys to every door in the Kingdom.
     The Keys of Revelation are where the Mysteries and Secret things of God, have been hidden for us and not from us.  They are ours, by the Door Himself.  There is the Revelation of the Door to Redemption, which many have failed to open.  There is the Door of the Blessing, that remains unopened to many, even though it belongs to them.  These Revelations of the Kingdom, are things that Jesus (the Door), gave His Life for us to have.
     We're approaching the Day we've set aside as "Resurrection Sunday."  Without this Day, the birth of Jesus would have meant nothing to Christianity.  It was only by His Resurrection, that made the Promises and Truth a reality in this entire universe.  This is the Day that sets our God, apart from all the other gods, that others worship.  Jesus' rising from the dead has done away with all other religions of the world and has brought something religion couldn't do.  His Resurrection brought Life to the dead and a family to God, in Him.
     Many have come to the cross and received the Keys of the Kingdom, but haven't gone beyond the cross into the Kingdom that has now been opened to them.  Beyond the cross is where we Live and at the cross, is where we died.  To Live in God by the Blood of Christ, is entering into the Kingdom and God's Throne Room.  It's receiving our places as His ambassadors, to be sent by our King into the world.  This is our assignment, from our King.
     God has anointed us, by His Spirit and has given the Keys of Life and Blessing, so we can present the Kingdom to the world.  We must understand that these Keys, give us insight into "binding and loosing" on this earthly kingdom.  Our King has equipped us as His ambassadors, with the ability to bind everything on this earth, that is bound or unlawful in Heaven.  We have the authority to loose or declare, whatever is declared lawful in Heaven, too.
     Do you think that sickness or disease are lawful in the Kingdom?  If it's not lawful there, then it shouldn't be lawful here.  We've been given this Key, to bind sickness and disease here, just like Jesus did with the Keys of the Kingdom.  Jesus sent His disciples in Luke 10 to the homes of the city.  He directed them as Ambassadors or servants of His Authority, to "Set free and heal in every house they entered."  Jesus could do this, because He knew the Power of what was lawful or unlawful in the Kingdom.  If it was unlawful in the Kingdom, Jesus declared the right to not allow it to function here, as One sent from Heaven.
     We've been unsure in our salvation, as what is lawful or unlawful in the Kingdom, so the Keys don't always work in the lock and Revelation is still not Light in our spirits.  Most Christians would and could, walk in these things, if we only knew it was "the will of the Kingdom, from which we're sent."  We don't operate, because we don't know what God's will is.  The Keys of Revelation open the Doors, to knowing what God's will is for both here and in Heaven.
     We certainly don't think they are sick and diseased people in Heaven, who remain like that for eternity.  Do we?  How could we believe it's God will for them here then, after Jesus has come and returned to God's Kingdom?  Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 (Amplified), "All authority, all power of rule, in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me. God then and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the Name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I Am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the very close of and consummation of the age, Amen (So let it be)."
     Don't get hung up on Baptism and dogma and religion.  Jesus has been given a Name which is above every name.  This Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has been condensed into One Name, and that Name is "Jesus."  People aren't saved, in the Name of the Holy Spirit and they're not saved in the Name of the Father.  Acts 4:12 (Amplified) says, "There is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved."  When we're in Christ Jesus, we're in the Father and the Holy Spirit.  We sometimes "strain at a gnat and swallow a camel," with our ideas, instead of using the Keys of Revelation.  Didn't Jesus say, "ALL power and authority has been given in Me, both in Heaven and earth?"
     This Resurrection Sunday, let's stay in Him and His Power of Truth and Grace.  Let's allow Him to open God's good treasure to us, with Keys of Revelation.
     "Maranatha, even so quickly come, Lord Jesus."  Happy Easter, Cowboy Jim

Lesson 180 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."
     In John 3:5-6 (Amplified) Jesus says,"I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and even the Spirit, he cannot ever enter the Kingdom of God. What is born from the flesh is flesh (of the physical is physical); and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."
     One must be born of the physical, in order to become physical and must be born of the Spirit, in order to become spirit.  We've had a difficult time accepting the Truth that we are Spirit beings, in God's Own Image.  Many Christians put off the spirit part, for when they get to Heaven.  We've had a difficult time distinguishing the difference between becoming a spirit and actually being a spirit.  We continue seeing ourselves as more flesh than spirit.  You don't have a spirit.  YOU ARE A SPIRIT.  Your spirit is what and is, in God's Image.  Your body isn't made in His Image.  Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amplified), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  
     God's Word tells us that Jesus came in the likeness of men (in the flesh), but His Spirit was in the Image of God, to the place where Jesus said, "It is the Father in Me Who does the work."  If it was true that our flesh is in God's Image, then how would God look?  Would He be brown, black, yellow, red or white?  Would He a man or a woman, short or tall, fat or thin?  Your flesh isn't in His Image, but your spirit is.  We try making our body in His Image and fail by our own efforts.  Your spirit is to control your flesh and not the other way around.
     We've all probably what Paul wrote in 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified), but haven't understood it.  Thus, he writes, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh. Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
     Paul says that we know Jesus in such a way, that "we no longer know Him after His flesh."  This is unthinkable to many of us, because we still see Jesus as the Man from Bethlehem and Mary's Son.  Jesus has put aside His mortal Body and is now clothed in His Heavenly Body, in the very Kingdom of God.  He has a Body, but it's unlike the one that died and was buried.  It's now Glorified and no longer subject to death.  His Own Spirit is now the Life Source of His Glorified Body.
     This is how we will be, when we leave this earth.  We will have a body, but it will no longer be subject to the physical, but the spirit.  You are a spirit!  You won't "become a spirit," but you NOW ARE A SPIRIT.  The reason it's so important we're in God's Word on a daily basis, is because God now deals with us as Spirit family.  He doesn't correct and discipline our body, but our spirit.
     God doesn't train your body, but your spirit.  When your spirit yields to Him and receives correction, then it will train your body to walk not in the fleshly appetites of the world.  Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."
     We've tried speaking life, to a dead flesh, hoping it will respond to Spiritual things.  Jesus said that, "The flesh conveys no benefit whatever, there is no profit in it."  The flesh was crucified and died with Jesus on the cross, it is dead.  Your spirit was made alive on the other side of the cross, at Jesus' resurrection.  God now deals with Spiritual people on a Spiritual scale.
     The struggle with our flesh is overcome by the Life of our new creation spirit, as children of God.  When the spirit is made strong by God's Word (which is Spirit and Life), the flesh will line-up with your spirit.  If we don't understand and read the Truth about who we really are, then our flesh will dominate us and continue in it's old ways.  Even though it's dead unto God, it will continue it's old ways out of habit and take your spirit with it.
     Your body is only clothing for your spirit.  Its the vehicle that takes your spirit from place to place.  You drive the vehicle, the vehicle doesn't drive you.  We don't stay on this earth without a body.  That's how we function here on earth.  When we leave this earth, then our body stops functioning.  Our spirit is now the only life your body has, in order to operate in this earth.  It's important to God, only as a means of delivering Him to world.  We can't lay hands on the sick, preach the Gospel, cast out demons, or feed the poor and hungry, without a body.  God needs your body to be strong and well, so that we can be ambassadors of His Kingdom, to the world.
     We're Spiritual children of God and we're to allow His Word (which is Spirit and Life), to feed our spirit with the strength of His Word and the Power of His Might, so we can do His work.  If God made you sick or disabled in your body, then He would be hindering Himself from doing what He left us here to do.  Paul said, "We're no longer to be seen anymore after the flesh and by the natural man only, but by the spirit."
     Jesus gives "The Parable of the Sower, in Mark 4, telling us that God's Word is Seed.  1Peter 2:2 (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."  So, we know that God's Word, which is the Seed Jesus spoke about, is ever living and lasting.  The King James Version calls it, "The incorruptible Seed."  God's Word is Seed and our spirits are the soil for the Seed to produce in.  It's important that we don' see ourselves after the flesh any longer, like Paul said in 2Corinthians 5:16-17.
     So long as we see ourselves after the flesh our hearts aren't tilled to receive this Seed (Word) and bring forth the harvest, into the Spirit Kingdom.  Jesus says in Mark 4:14-15 (Amplified), "The sower sows the Word. The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."
     The soil must be prepared to receive the Seed.  No one plants seed along the path, where people have continuously walked.  The path's soil is hard-packed and seed will not take root in hard-packed soil.  The first thing a farmer does in the spring, is prepare the soil.  He turns it over, in order to kill any weeds and then he discs it to smooth out any hard places.  Then the farmer harrows it to make it smooth and plants the seeds.  After the seed is sown, he will cultivate between the rows, to discourage any weeds from growing and killing his harvest.  After the crops have matured, he will go in and harvest the crop.
     Many have tried sowing seed on the path, where people have walked for centuries.  Most of them have never had a crop sprout up, because the path is hard-packed soil.  The Seed (God's Word) has been sown on the path that religion has walked and trampled hard.  In order to bring forth a harvest, we must first allow the Holy Spirit to prepare our heart to receive the Seed.  Jesus told us that, "You can't put new wine in an old wine skin, because it will break the old wine skin and spill the new wine, so that both are lost."  For anyone who has made homemade wine, you know that it builds a gas that must be allowed to expand.  Many put a balloon over the top, to allow it to breath and the gas to expand.  Then, it will settle down into the container without breaking it, but it must have room to expand first.  If you make new wine or allow your spirit to receive the Word (Seed) or if you don't prepare your heart and stay by the path of hard-packed soil, then you'll lose the new wine and break the wine skin.
     We can't walk the same path and stifle the Seed by putting it on hard-packed soil, because the enemy will take the Seed from you by force and you'll lose it all.  We must keep our hearts pliable to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to til the soil of our hearts.  Many have heard the Word or received the Seed in our hearts.  We received it gladly at first, but then we stayed by the path or hard-packed soil of tradition and now we don't accept the Truth of God's Word.  Many have been talked out of what the Seed would've produced years ago, because we didn't til the soil.  Tradition took over the garden and now only weeds of man's ideas grow there.
     2Timothy 2:5-6 (Amplified) says, "If anyone enters competitive games, he is not crowned unless he competes lawfully (fairly, according to the rules laid down). It is the hard working farmer who labors to produce, who must be the first partaker of the fruits."
     No one can receive the crown from a marathon race, unless he/she stays on the lawful course.  One can't cut across the field and place first, but must stay on the track.  We can't make the Word work like it's supposed to, unless we do it the prescribed way.  The farmer who works to keep his crops secure, won't only raise a good crop, but will be the first to partake of and enjoy the fruits of his labor.  If we do it God's way, then we won't only receive the crown, but we'll also enjoy the fruit the Seed produces in our lives.  Just because tradition says, "It won't work," doesn't mean the Seed has become corrupt.  We must continue sowing and caring for the Seed, in order to walk in the fruit of it, like God's Word says.
     Some have tried eating and enjoying fruit, from a crop they didn't plant.  America's hardworking family farms are being phased out and we're becoming dependent o the grocery store, for our food.  Without the farmer, we'll go hungry.  In today's Church, we see people who run from one place to another, partaking of what other farmers have sown and reaped, instead of sowing for ourselves.  We go from meeting to meeting, seeking men and women of God and the harvest of their labors.  The hungry are still out there and most of them are still on the path, with it's hard-packed soil.  This soil is hard-packed from the many feet and years of an unproductive tradition.
      You're the only one who can determine your heart and know whether the Seed will grow there.  You can turn a deaf ear or blind eye, deciding you don't need the Seed of God's Word.  You can remain dependent on some other "farmer" to supply fruit for you or you can prepare your heart to hear and allow the Seed to produce in your life.  The Year of Understanding has come to all who will allow their hearts to be pliable and receptive to the Seed of God's Word.  Just because the Seed is sown or broadcast, doesn't mean it will produce where it has no place to take root.
     Jesus described four different types of soil or people's hearts in His Parable.  Only one kind of soil produced and even then it was limited.  Some heard the Word and got excited about it, but then after awhile, they went back to the pathway they had always walked, which choked out the harvest.  I've heard some say, "You mean we have to go back to watching what we say?"  I answer, "You should never have stopped watching what you say."
     They ask, "You mean I have to go back to praying in tongues?"  Why would you ever stop praying in tongues?  We forget what the rules of the competition are and what we're to play by.  We start taking shortcuts to get a harvest, but no farmer ever receives a harvest, unless he plants seed.  When was the last time you spent time in God's Word, learning and growing?  Or, are you satisfied with where you are?  Speaking God's Word forth from only memory won't feed your own spirit, anymore than the memory of a steak will feed your body.  This is why Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:11, "Give us this day, our daily bread."  We need to feed on God's Word daily.
     The manna God sent those in the Wilderness, was only good for one day at a time. Each day, the people had to seek God for provision and food.  God wasn't trying those in the Wilderness, they were trying and limiting Him.  They tried competing by their rules, instead of just complying with the rules laid down.  This is an individual walk with the Master.  It's not based on how everyone else is doing, but how you are doing.  Others might be satisfied with someone else's fruit, but I want to grow my own fruit and be able to feed the hungry from God's abundance.