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."
It's difficult to open the eyes that have had a veil over them for so many years. Only God, by His Holy Spirit, can bring the entrance of His Word and Light, into the hearts of His family. We've been taught the religion of the world for so long, it's hard to learn the True Gospel of Liberty in Jesus. We've been told there's a list of things we must do, in order to earn God's Blessing, that it seems unreal to think that we've had it all along.
2Corinthians 3:14-17 (Amplified) says, "In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused, they had become dull and lost the power of understanding; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies on their hears, not being lifted to reveal that in Christ it is made void and done away with. Yes, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts. But whenever a person turns in repentance to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom)."
Most of us were never under the Law of Moses, but the same veil has covered our hears and minds, by having that Law read and reread to us, over the years. We were born into liberty, but have allowed ourselves to be brought into this same bondage. We keep trying to be good enough to deserve God's Blessing and trying to earn it by works. When we make a mistake, we try doing something good, in order to appease God and get back in His favor.
Grace means different things to different people. Some believe that you can do whatever you want and Grace will cover it. Other believers think we must do works, in order to obtain God's Grace and favor. We are called to abstain from things we know are sin, but this isn't what Grace is about. Grace is not about giving into sin whenever you want and Grace will cover it.
Understanding Grace requires the Holy Spirit's revealing to you, that there is nothing left for you to do, but believe that "In Jesus, it is finished." Jesus has done all that God requires of us, on our behalf and He has done it perfectly. It's not about what we must do, but what we must know. We cannot believe, what we don't know and understand. We've lacked understanding, concerning the work of Jesus and Redemption. Under the old covenant, man was required to perform certain things, in order to obtain the Blessing and Promise. Under the new covenant, we're only to believe that Jesus Christ has already met all those requirements for us and then simply trust in His Sacrifice. Some believe this is too easy and they wish to add to Jesus' Perfection.
When we lack understanding about our family relationship and God's Promise to us through Jesus, we won't know Who we're to set our hope, faith and belief on or even what we're to believe. Our new covenant depends entirely on God's viewpoint. We're to simply have faith in His Grace and the Finished Work of Christ and then accept God's Love and Promises. We've struggled with healing, praying in tongues, Righteousness, prayer, peace and so many other things, because we haven't understood that these things are already ours and have been provided for us, in Jesus. We keep trying to find a way of making God do these things for us, without realizing that He already has, in Jesus.
The great sin that Jesus bore, was the sin that separated us from God at the fall of man, in the Garden of Eden. We lost fellowship, Life, Blessing, because the sin of death created a barrier between us and God, that only Jesus could tear down and return Life and family back to the Father. All the sins of the flesh sprang from the first of sin death, which entered into Adam at the fall. When the barrier of sin was broken, God could now, through the Holy Spirit, be in contact with the spirit of man and be one with us again.
God no longer needed to deal with mankind from the outside and by man's own obedience and goodness, but He could once again deal with us, by and through, our spirit, like He did with Adam, before the fall and like He did with Jesus, during His earthly ministry. Part of the veil that covers our hearts and minds, is that we still expect God to correct and discipline us, according to how He dealt with the old covenant saints. God's will for mankind was never do bring death, hardship or withhold His Blessing, because of the weakness of the flesh. Mankind was never to been in the position, where we lived and walked by our senses, but by our spirit. Jesus redeemed us back to that place and restored us back into the Image and Likeness of the Father.
We've never been taught how to live by our spirit, but we've been trained mostly by the Law, even if we're unaware of it. We haven't understood the new covenant we were born into and haven't dared to expect God's Promises to manifest and belong to us here, because of our flesh and it's imperfections. This is why it had to be by faith, that it might be by Grace. It's not what we do, but what we know.
It's nearly impossible to walk in God's Promises for us, if we don't know that they are for us and that, "All these Promises are "Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus to God's Glory for us." With Jesus, everything we think we need, is already done. We must only receive them, by faith in His Work for us. This is Grace. It's not that we deserved or earned them by our own goodness, but that Jesus purchased them for us, by His Goodness.
Even though satan couldn't keep us from being born-again, he still managed to keep us in his bondage, by blinding us with the same veil that blinded those under the Law. We felt like "They weren't for us, because we don't deserve them." This has mostly left the Church impotent of power and joy. Many Christians have let the Promise of the Spirit be lost to them, because they've lacked understanding. We've had ears, but haven't heard and eyes, but haven't seen the Truth of Grace. So many riches of Grace haven't been received by God's people, because we never knew they were ours. The evil one has held us in bondage to his will. We never knew we were in bondage, so we never accepted our liberty.
Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the Truth, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance, unnecessary weight and that sin which so readily and deftly and cleverly clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us."
I believe that the sin, Paul writes about in the above scripture, is the sin of unbelief. It's what God was speaking about, when He said those in the Wilderness didn't enter His Rest, because of unbelief. It wasn't that God hadn't made the way and provided the need, but they wouldn't believe His Promises. Unbelief is simply not trusting in God and His Promises to us. The traps and lies of the enemy uses, "deftly and cleverly cling to and entangle us and keep us from entering into God's Rest.
Unbelief is a choice we make, because we don't understand what God's will, His Promises and His covenant have granted to us, in Jesus. No true believer in Jesus Christ, would deliberately choose something they think might not be God's will for them, so we choose not to believe or initiate unbelief in that thing. You can't put faith in something you don't understand about God's Will and His Word for you. It's a choice we make. It's not disbelief, but it's unbelief. You can be a believer and still operate in unbelief.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Lesson 219 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."
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." Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) says,
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed (fashioned, put in order) and equipped for their intended purpose. When it comes to the things of God, only faith can give you understanding.
God's Word IS WISDOM. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
The above scripture is Wisdom. By faith we understand. Without having faith in this Wisdom, we only read the words by religious understanding, leaving us to believe they don't apply to our lives here on earth. Wisdom is the Word, Jesus Christ. He's not only our Wisdom, but He has been made our Wisdom. Wisdom has come and we've received this Wisdom in Him, so why do we continue struggling with the Truth of Righteousness, Redemption and Consecration? It's because we lack understanding, and haven't applied faith in this Wisdom.
I remember when our family residence got a telephone, which hung on the kitchen wall. This phone had a crank that we turned, in order to activate it. Then, we spoke into a tube placed on the front of the phone and we listened through another tube that we placed up to our ear. An operator would then ask you "who would you like to talk to" and then would put your intended party on the line. Now, we carry cell phones in our pockets and these carry more information than our libraries used to have. The wisdom of the phones from my childhood was a great start, but now we understand sound waves and technologies never thought of previously. Now, that we've gotten understanding, phones are no longer a mystery.
Air planes would have been flying thousands of years ago, if mankind had understood the Laws of Physics the way we now do. The wisdom was there, but the understanding was not. It was only a hundred years ago, we drove horses and buggies and had kerosene lights. Nothing in this earth has changed, the laws governing the earth are the same, but we now understand and can apply them. God placed the wisdom of the earth for our use, but we didn't understand those laws.
God's Word is the same Wisdom for these Last days, that was there in the beginning. God hasn't changed His Plan or His Wisdom, but He has given us understanding, in order that we can use that Wisdom. In these Last days, God is revealing understanding of His Word, that has always been Wisdom. Things that were always been in His Word from the beginning, are now being taught to God's family with understanding. Many things are being seen for the first time, by understanding. They've always been there, but now by faith, we have understanding.
Many are finding it difficult to understand the Very Wisdom, Who is Jesus. Like those in Jesus' time, many prefer to cling to tradition, rather than accept the understanding of Wisdom and Revelation. Some refuse to accept what Wisdom has enlightened to the Church, in these days. What we call "new," has always been in God's Word, but we didn't understand how to apply it in our lives. The Father never intended for us to remain ignorant of His Word or His Grace. We though, haven't understood how to apply what He gave us. Wisdom has provided Righteousness, but we will only have the assurance to come boldly and without fear into God's Presence, if we understand this Righteousness. Wisdom has provided our new birth and given us access into all the Blessings Jesus provided for us, but only understanding will give you the assurance that they are yours now.
God's Word hasn't changed today. God wants us to have what He Promised, but we don't understand how to receive them. We continue on the old way and then we blame God when it doesn't work, instead of getting understanding. If the way we've been things hasn't worked for hundreds of years, then it won't work for another hundred years.
We still struggle with the Truth that we've been totally forgiven, because we don't understand this Truth and we walk like nothing has changed in our lives. We believe the Redemption Jesus provided is for "when we die and go to Heaven," because we lack the understanding that there's no Curse in Heaven for which we need to be redeemed from. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that, "By faith, we understand." We can look far into the universes today, using the Hubble Telescope. Wisdom placed the universe there, but many still don't understand that God made it and have no faith that He made the universe. Scientists can tell us about sun spots, black holes and solar storms, but many don't have the understanding of how they came to be. This is a Spiritual Wisdom that is far beyond man's comprehension and intellect, but we refuse to acknowledge the One Who made it. Scientists see that the earth is dying, but fail to understand why this is so. Man keeps trying to make it live, by human intellect and then can't understand why these things don't work.
There are many things that go wrong in our Christian lives, that we blame God for. We don't understand the Spiritual Wisdom to change them and continue on in darkness, instead of walking in the Light, as He is in the Light. Proverbs 3:19 (Amplified) says "The Lord by skillful and Godly Wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding He has established the Heavens." Genesis 1 tells us that God did this, by His Word, but we still don't understand why we need to speak only God's Word, in our lives. We fail to understand the power of our words. The untrained spirit thinks that words are only a means of communicating, and not creative power in our lives. We really don't understand Mark 4, where Jesus tells us that "the words we hear and speak, are seeds," even though it's the Wisdom of God.
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." Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) says,
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed (fashioned, put in order) and equipped for their intended purpose. When it comes to the things of God, only faith can give you understanding.
God's Word IS WISDOM. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
The above scripture is Wisdom. By faith we understand. Without having faith in this Wisdom, we only read the words by religious understanding, leaving us to believe they don't apply to our lives here on earth. Wisdom is the Word, Jesus Christ. He's not only our Wisdom, but He has been made our Wisdom. Wisdom has come and we've received this Wisdom in Him, so why do we continue struggling with the Truth of Righteousness, Redemption and Consecration? It's because we lack understanding, and haven't applied faith in this Wisdom.
I remember when our family residence got a telephone, which hung on the kitchen wall. This phone had a crank that we turned, in order to activate it. Then, we spoke into a tube placed on the front of the phone and we listened through another tube that we placed up to our ear. An operator would then ask you "who would you like to talk to" and then would put your intended party on the line. Now, we carry cell phones in our pockets and these carry more information than our libraries used to have. The wisdom of the phones from my childhood was a great start, but now we understand sound waves and technologies never thought of previously. Now, that we've gotten understanding, phones are no longer a mystery.
Air planes would have been flying thousands of years ago, if mankind had understood the Laws of Physics the way we now do. The wisdom was there, but the understanding was not. It was only a hundred years ago, we drove horses and buggies and had kerosene lights. Nothing in this earth has changed, the laws governing the earth are the same, but we now understand and can apply them. God placed the wisdom of the earth for our use, but we didn't understand those laws.
God's Word is the same Wisdom for these Last days, that was there in the beginning. God hasn't changed His Plan or His Wisdom, but He has given us understanding, in order that we can use that Wisdom. In these Last days, God is revealing understanding of His Word, that has always been Wisdom. Things that were always been in His Word from the beginning, are now being taught to God's family with understanding. Many things are being seen for the first time, by understanding. They've always been there, but now by faith, we have understanding.
Many are finding it difficult to understand the Very Wisdom, Who is Jesus. Like those in Jesus' time, many prefer to cling to tradition, rather than accept the understanding of Wisdom and Revelation. Some refuse to accept what Wisdom has enlightened to the Church, in these days. What we call "new," has always been in God's Word, but we didn't understand how to apply it in our lives. The Father never intended for us to remain ignorant of His Word or His Grace. We though, haven't understood how to apply what He gave us. Wisdom has provided Righteousness, but we will only have the assurance to come boldly and without fear into God's Presence, if we understand this Righteousness. Wisdom has provided our new birth and given us access into all the Blessings Jesus provided for us, but only understanding will give you the assurance that they are yours now.
God's Word hasn't changed today. God wants us to have what He Promised, but we don't understand how to receive them. We continue on the old way and then we blame God when it doesn't work, instead of getting understanding. If the way we've been things hasn't worked for hundreds of years, then it won't work for another hundred years.
We still struggle with the Truth that we've been totally forgiven, because we don't understand this Truth and we walk like nothing has changed in our lives. We believe the Redemption Jesus provided is for "when we die and go to Heaven," because we lack the understanding that there's no Curse in Heaven for which we need to be redeemed from. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that, "By faith, we understand." We can look far into the universes today, using the Hubble Telescope. Wisdom placed the universe there, but many still don't understand that God made it and have no faith that He made the universe. Scientists can tell us about sun spots, black holes and solar storms, but many don't have the understanding of how they came to be. This is a Spiritual Wisdom that is far beyond man's comprehension and intellect, but we refuse to acknowledge the One Who made it. Scientists see that the earth is dying, but fail to understand why this is so. Man keeps trying to make it live, by human intellect and then can't understand why these things don't work.
There are many things that go wrong in our Christian lives, that we blame God for. We don't understand the Spiritual Wisdom to change them and continue on in darkness, instead of walking in the Light, as He is in the Light. Proverbs 3:19 (Amplified) says "The Lord by skillful and Godly Wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding He has established the Heavens." Genesis 1 tells us that God did this, by His Word, but we still don't understand why we need to speak only God's Word, in our lives. We fail to understand the power of our words. The untrained spirit thinks that words are only a means of communicating, and not creative power in our lives. We really don't understand Mark 4, where Jesus tells us that "the words we hear and speak, are seeds," even though it's the Wisdom of God.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Lesson 218 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."
Proverbs 4:7, 20-23 (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)." In Verses 20-23 God goes on, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life."
Most Christians have kept our Spiritual lives separate from our natural lives, because we've failed to understand God's Word. We've accepted our salvation and our new birth as Spirit, but still allow our flesh to determine our natural lives. We've come to the place, where we've overcome drinking, drugging, cursing and participating in things that are sexually deviant, but we've limited most of the Spiritual power to only these things.
The adversary has even programmed the world to believe in the separation of church and state. Satan knew from the beginning, that he had no power over the Christian's new creation spirit man and has tried keeping our Spirit life out of our natural life. It's futile to try overthrowing the god of this world using only natural forces. We've nearly dismissed healing and Divine health, saying "These have passed away" or "These things aren't for us today." We read in the above scripture that "God's Word is health and healing to all our flesh."
Health and healing are part of life. Life comes from the spirit into the flesh and not from the flesh into the spirit. The Authority of God comes from the Spirit into the natural world and not the other way around. Most of our Spiritual lives consists of going to church on Sunday and Wednesday night, while the flesh dictates the rest of our week. I'm not saying that we return to sin after going to church on Sunday, but that we tend to let our Spiritual lives lapse until next Sunday. Learning and growing in our Spirit life, comes by believing, knowing and understanding God's Word.
We've accepted the world's standard for the idea God's Word, instead of allowing His Word to set the standard for the world. Prayer has nearly become a "last resort," to the world's problems and we say, "That's the way life is," when prayers aren't answered. Most of our faith has only been to applied to living a good life here and going to Heaven, when we die. This isn't what Jesus came to bring God's family. Our Father never intended for us to suffer at the hands of satan and his cohorts.
When we were "redeemed from the Curse of the Law, we were set free from it altogether. This isn't something that we can enforce by the flesh, but only by the spirit. It's futile to walk in redemption, when we separate the Spirit from the natural. It's a Spiritual thing and can only be overcome by the Super-natural Spirit that lives in us. The new birth is ours and the Redemption is Truth, but we must activate this Law by our spirit and by the Word, in faith.
Reading God's Word, while not believing it, is merely mental exercise and has no power to bring healing and health to your flesh. When your flesh is left to it's own devices, it will accept sickness and disease as being "just a part of life." 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."
"The health and healing to all our flesh, through God's Word," that we read about in Proverbs 4:22, is one of those "Yes Promises" to us, in Jesus. We've kept Spiritual things Spiritual and fleshly things fleshly and our mortal bodies have continued like God's Word doesn't work in the natural world any longer. We've learned so little of God's Word, that it only applies to after we leave this world and we live as mere natural men and women, even after we're born-again. We must have God's Word in our hearts, which takes time in that Word and time with the Holy Spirit. The natural man isn't supposed to run our lives any longer...God is.
1John 5:4 (Amplified) says, "For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith." To conquer the world is to allow our faith in the new creation we've become and allow the spirit to rule our lives, instead of the flesh. This is by faith, which is a Spiritual force, that will not allow our flesh to dictate our lives, but the Spirit to dictate over our flesh.
We need to get our heart and head into agreement. We must not listen only to our head or natural man, but start living by the Spirit. If God's Promise of forgiveness and new life are true, then all the other Promises of God are true too. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all the other Promises were already ours, if we enforce them in our flesh, by the spirit. Your flesh has no power to hold them back, if we won't allow it to rule any longer.
Your natural man has ruled your life, until you received Jesus. It takes time in God's Word to walk by the Spirit and teach your flesh a new way of Life. If you can teach a dog to roll over or sit up and you can teach a parrot to talk, then you can teach teach your flesh to receive new Guidance. Don't allow the world to separate your new Life in Christ, from your old life in the world. You can never live in the total victory of Jesus, by trying to do so in the flesh. Satan is the master of this world of flesh and the only way to defeat him, is in the Spirit.
Proverbs 4:7, 20-23 (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)." In Verses 20-23 God goes on, "My son, attend to My Words; consent and submit to My sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life."
Most Christians have kept our Spiritual lives separate from our natural lives, because we've failed to understand God's Word. We've accepted our salvation and our new birth as Spirit, but still allow our flesh to determine our natural lives. We've come to the place, where we've overcome drinking, drugging, cursing and participating in things that are sexually deviant, but we've limited most of the Spiritual power to only these things.
The adversary has even programmed the world to believe in the separation of church and state. Satan knew from the beginning, that he had no power over the Christian's new creation spirit man and has tried keeping our Spirit life out of our natural life. It's futile to try overthrowing the god of this world using only natural forces. We've nearly dismissed healing and Divine health, saying "These have passed away" or "These things aren't for us today." We read in the above scripture that "God's Word is health and healing to all our flesh."
Health and healing are part of life. Life comes from the spirit into the flesh and not from the flesh into the spirit. The Authority of God comes from the Spirit into the natural world and not the other way around. Most of our Spiritual lives consists of going to church on Sunday and Wednesday night, while the flesh dictates the rest of our week. I'm not saying that we return to sin after going to church on Sunday, but that we tend to let our Spiritual lives lapse until next Sunday. Learning and growing in our Spirit life, comes by believing, knowing and understanding God's Word.
We've accepted the world's standard for the idea God's Word, instead of allowing His Word to set the standard for the world. Prayer has nearly become a "last resort," to the world's problems and we say, "That's the way life is," when prayers aren't answered. Most of our faith has only been to applied to living a good life here and going to Heaven, when we die. This isn't what Jesus came to bring God's family. Our Father never intended for us to suffer at the hands of satan and his cohorts.
When we were "redeemed from the Curse of the Law, we were set free from it altogether. This isn't something that we can enforce by the flesh, but only by the spirit. It's futile to walk in redemption, when we separate the Spirit from the natural. It's a Spiritual thing and can only be overcome by the Super-natural Spirit that lives in us. The new birth is ours and the Redemption is Truth, but we must activate this Law by our spirit and by the Word, in faith.
Reading God's Word, while not believing it, is merely mental exercise and has no power to bring healing and health to your flesh. When your flesh is left to it's own devices, it will accept sickness and disease as being "just a part of life." 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."
"The health and healing to all our flesh, through God's Word," that we read about in Proverbs 4:22, is one of those "Yes Promises" to us, in Jesus. We've kept Spiritual things Spiritual and fleshly things fleshly and our mortal bodies have continued like God's Word doesn't work in the natural world any longer. We've learned so little of God's Word, that it only applies to after we leave this world and we live as mere natural men and women, even after we're born-again. We must have God's Word in our hearts, which takes time in that Word and time with the Holy Spirit. The natural man isn't supposed to run our lives any longer...God is.
1John 5:4 (Amplified) says, "For whatever is born of God is victorious over the world; and this is the victory that conquers the world, even our faith." To conquer the world is to allow our faith in the new creation we've become and allow the spirit to rule our lives, instead of the flesh. This is by faith, which is a Spiritual force, that will not allow our flesh to dictate our lives, but the Spirit to dictate over our flesh.
We need to get our heart and head into agreement. We must not listen only to our head or natural man, but start living by the Spirit. If God's Promise of forgiveness and new life are true, then all the other Promises of God are true too. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, all the other Promises were already ours, if we enforce them in our flesh, by the spirit. Your flesh has no power to hold them back, if we won't allow it to rule any longer.
Your natural man has ruled your life, until you received Jesus. It takes time in God's Word to walk by the Spirit and teach your flesh a new way of Life. If you can teach a dog to roll over or sit up and you can teach a parrot to talk, then you can teach teach your flesh to receive new Guidance. Don't allow the world to separate your new Life in Christ, from your old life in the world. You can never live in the total victory of Jesus, by trying to do so in the flesh. Satan is the master of this world of flesh and the only way to defeat him, is in the Spirit.
Friday, July 12, 2019
Lesson 217 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
We've done things our own way, for so long, that we've lost sight of how the Father's ways are. Jesus instructed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
The Kingdom of God has ways that work, but we must understand how they work. It's futile to try and make Kingdom things work, by our own understanding. God will not change our ways to meet the order of His Kingdom. Our prayer lives have been hindered, because we try to "get God" to do things that are out of order to His Word. We pray for God to save so-and-so, humble that person and bring that person to salvation. God's Word and Jesus' Sacrifice have already done everything needed to save everyone on this earth.
John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly Loved and deary prized the world that He even gave up His Only Begotten (Unique) Son, so that whosoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, and relies on) Him should not perish (come to destruction, be lost), but have Eternal (Everlasting) Life."
Jesus' Sacrifice has already made God's will for mankind known. There's really no reason to ask God to save anyone, because we already know that's His will for all mankind, according to 2Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified), which says, "But even if our Gospel (the Glad tidings) also be hidden (obscured and covered up) with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God, it is hidden only to those who are perishing and obscured only to those who are Spiritually dying and veiled only to those who are lost. For the god of this world has blinded the unbeliever's minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
God's will and His salvation are for all who will believe and having unsaved people, is not His will. It's God's will for even the worst of sinners, be saved. Why isn't everyone saved? Why wouldn't we pray and ask God to save the unsaved? Because, He has already done everything needed for their salvation. God and His Word aren't the problem, but the god of this world has blinded them from seeing. We should be praying against the god of this world and the darkness of the veil that prevents their seeing the Light of God's Glory. This is where the authority of the believer and the Name of Jesus can be applied, taking away that which the devil has over them.
We've missed so many things in prayer and God's Kingdom, because we've misunderstood God's way of doing and being right. Jesus doesn't preach the Gospel, but He's sent us to preach and deliver for Him, using His Name and His authority. Jesus sent us into the world to proclaim what He has already done and to use His Name and the authority of His Name, to do so. The Body of Christ is now to break the veil of darkness off from the minds of the unbeliever. The Body of Christ is to lay hands on the sick and to cast out demons and free people who are bound by the enemy, according to Matthew 16:15-20.
We pray for God to heal a hospital patient, when He instructed us to, "Take Me to the hospital, lay your hands on them and I will do the work. You are My hands and feet and you're the vehicle by which I now travel." We are the Body of Christ. We are His hands and feet, His Voice and His Word on this earth. You might say, "Well, not everyone can heal the sick." I say, "Nobody can heal the sick, but the Father in you will do the work." Don't confuse your part of the Gospel and expect the Father to function outside the Kingdom.
Paul encountered this in his ministry in 2Corinthians 12:7-10 (Amplified), where he was busy doing what the Lord told him to do. The messenger of satan was constantly working against him. Paul asked God three times to "remove this thorn in his flesh from me." God didn't remove it, but reminded Paul that it was his place to deal with it "by the Truth of the Revelation the Lord had given him." God's Grace was more than enough to deal with any messenger of satan or anything else Paul needed. In Verse 10 Paul said this about this new Revelation, "When I am without power in my own strength and flesh, I rely on the Spirit of God within me and it always works. When I am weak in human strength, then I am truly strong (able, powerful) in Divine strength."
We've misunderstood Grace and have lost sight of it's power to deliver and heal, those who are lost. Many believe that Paul had a problem with pride, concerning the Revelation he received from the Lord, so God made him sick, in order to humble Paul. Why would God give him the Light of this Revelation, commission him to preach it and then deliberately try to hold Paul back from doing what He told him to do? HE WOULDN'T.
From that point on, Paul realized what his call was and how to fulfill it. Despite what came against him, Paul prevailed, until he had "run the race and finished his course and was ready to be offered up." The hardships Christians face, aren't God's trying to stop us or try us. The hardships we face are the god of this world trying to shut us down. He uses unbelief and deception as to who and what we are in this world. We continue trying to do things our own way and then wonder why it doesn't work. God's way of doing and being right, always works. Our prayer life will even change, when we get understanding.
We've done things our own way, for so long, that we've lost sight of how the Father's ways are. Jesus instructed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."
The Kingdom of God has ways that work, but we must understand how they work. It's futile to try and make Kingdom things work, by our own understanding. God will not change our ways to meet the order of His Kingdom. Our prayer lives have been hindered, because we try to "get God" to do things that are out of order to His Word. We pray for God to save so-and-so, humble that person and bring that person to salvation. God's Word and Jesus' Sacrifice have already done everything needed to save everyone on this earth.
John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly Loved and deary prized the world that He even gave up His Only Begotten (Unique) Son, so that whosoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, and relies on) Him should not perish (come to destruction, be lost), but have Eternal (Everlasting) Life."
Jesus' Sacrifice has already made God's will for mankind known. There's really no reason to ask God to save anyone, because we already know that's His will for all mankind, according to 2Corinthians 4:3-4 (Amplified), which says, "But even if our Gospel (the Glad tidings) also be hidden (obscured and covered up) with a veil that hinders the knowledge of God, it is hidden only to those who are perishing and obscured only to those who are Spiritually dying and veiled only to those who are lost. For the god of this world has blinded the unbeliever's minds that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God."
God's will and His salvation are for all who will believe and having unsaved people, is not His will. It's God's will for even the worst of sinners, be saved. Why isn't everyone saved? Why wouldn't we pray and ask God to save the unsaved? Because, He has already done everything needed for their salvation. God and His Word aren't the problem, but the god of this world has blinded them from seeing. We should be praying against the god of this world and the darkness of the veil that prevents their seeing the Light of God's Glory. This is where the authority of the believer and the Name of Jesus can be applied, taking away that which the devil has over them.
We've missed so many things in prayer and God's Kingdom, because we've misunderstood God's way of doing and being right. Jesus doesn't preach the Gospel, but He's sent us to preach and deliver for Him, using His Name and His authority. Jesus sent us into the world to proclaim what He has already done and to use His Name and the authority of His Name, to do so. The Body of Christ is now to break the veil of darkness off from the minds of the unbeliever. The Body of Christ is to lay hands on the sick and to cast out demons and free people who are bound by the enemy, according to Matthew 16:15-20.
We pray for God to heal a hospital patient, when He instructed us to, "Take Me to the hospital, lay your hands on them and I will do the work. You are My hands and feet and you're the vehicle by which I now travel." We are the Body of Christ. We are His hands and feet, His Voice and His Word on this earth. You might say, "Well, not everyone can heal the sick." I say, "Nobody can heal the sick, but the Father in you will do the work." Don't confuse your part of the Gospel and expect the Father to function outside the Kingdom.
Paul encountered this in his ministry in 2Corinthians 12:7-10 (Amplified), where he was busy doing what the Lord told him to do. The messenger of satan was constantly working against him. Paul asked God three times to "remove this thorn in his flesh from me." God didn't remove it, but reminded Paul that it was his place to deal with it "by the Truth of the Revelation the Lord had given him." God's Grace was more than enough to deal with any messenger of satan or anything else Paul needed. In Verse 10 Paul said this about this new Revelation, "When I am without power in my own strength and flesh, I rely on the Spirit of God within me and it always works. When I am weak in human strength, then I am truly strong (able, powerful) in Divine strength."
We've misunderstood Grace and have lost sight of it's power to deliver and heal, those who are lost. Many believe that Paul had a problem with pride, concerning the Revelation he received from the Lord, so God made him sick, in order to humble Paul. Why would God give him the Light of this Revelation, commission him to preach it and then deliberately try to hold Paul back from doing what He told him to do? HE WOULDN'T.
From that point on, Paul realized what his call was and how to fulfill it. Despite what came against him, Paul prevailed, until he had "run the race and finished his course and was ready to be offered up." The hardships Christians face, aren't God's trying to stop us or try us. The hardships we face are the god of this world trying to shut us down. He uses unbelief and deception as to who and what we are in this world. We continue trying to do things our own way and then wonder why it doesn't work. God's way of doing and being right, always works. Our prayer life will even change, when we get understanding.
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Lesson 216 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
The Church has been taught so many different things over the last two millenniums, that has resulted in controversy and confusion. That's why it's paramount that the Church listens to the Holy Spirit. Many in today's Church have lost contact with the personal relationship and communion with the Holy Spirit. We've turned our liberty to fellowship and learn over to others, expecting them to should our personal time with the Lord. We're to have teachers and pastors in the Church, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but they're not to pray, read God's Word and fellowship for us. They're to teach and train us how to do these things.
A football coach doesn't play on the field, he/she teaches the team players how to do so. The coach isn't the quarterback, but is there to teach the quarterback how to execute the plays the coach calls. No matter how we seemingly want the Holy Spirit to "takeover," He will only call the play. We're to execute the play that He calls.
We don't send the Holy Spirit to the hospital, but we take Him to the hospital with us. We don't just pray for the Holy Spirit to touch the sick, we yield our own hands to Him, so that He can touch the sick. The pastor's job description, isn't to visit the people in their homes or the hospital, all on his/her own. The pastor is supposed to delegate the Church community to do this. It's the job of every believer, to hear the Holy Spirit for themselves and then go where He sends them.
Every member of the Body of Christ, is responsible for having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. This responsibility doesn't fall on the ministers alone. The pastor is called to teach and preach God's Word to the people. The people are to then take God's Word for themselves, individually. School teachers don't take the test for their students, but teaches the students to do the work for themselves. If a students fails a class, then it's not because they weren't taught, but because that student didn't apply the things he/she was taught. If the student didn't read the course curriculum the teacher laid out, then that student will probably fail the class.
The national news has been filled with college scandals, where the student's acceptance into a certain institution or the student's passing grades were bought by their parents. This won't profit the students, when they're out on their own and can be disastrous for them. Our Heavenly Father doesn't want to tell others what He wants and needs you to do, but He wishes to speak to you personally. We've lost the personal contact with the Father, because we've depended on someone else to do it for us. The time has come for God's family to return to having a one-on-One relationship with the Father. This doesn't mean that we no longer need to have teachers and preachers, but that we need to take responsibility for what they're teaching us. It's not the pastor's job to go all over praying for the sick, but he/she is the teach the people to "Go into all the world" and do the work that preacher has taught them to do, from God's Word.
We read in Luke 10, about Jesus' teaching the people and then sending them out to do the work He taught them to do. They returned from doing the work for themselves, both amazed and elated that they were able to do like Jesus taught them. Jesus could only be in one place at a time, so He trained up many to do the same work, by the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit could be brought into multiple homes and lives that Jesus couldn't be in.
I'm not talking about the Gifts of the Spirit, found in 1Corinthians 12, but about the Holy Spirit Himself, "Who does the work as He wills to profit with all." It's the Father, by the Holy Spirit Who is in you, that does the work. He only needs you, as a vehicle to take Him into the world. Notice how in Acts 9:10-11, God didn't go down and lay hands on Saul of Tarsus, but God sent Ananias to do this. Ananias was God's hands and only needed to answer the call. God did the work through Ananias, just like He did through Jesus.
Please, don't see yourself short of the Glory that abides within you. It's the Same Holy Spirit living in you, Who was in Jesus, Paul, Peter and yes, Ananias. If the Same Holy Spirit lives in you, then He only needs your availability. He has all the availability that He needs. He only requires us to "Go." We don't read about Ananias before or after this even, in Acts 9, but we do know that he had a personal relationship with the Lord, heard God's Voice and obeyed His Voice.
This might have been the only time God used Ananias for such a work, but his ministering to Saul accomplished a great thing for the Kingdom and the Church. Saul became Paul and wrote two-thirds of the new covenant, we're living in today. He was only one man, but Paul accomplished so much for God's Kingdom. If you only ministered to a single person at the Lord's direction and that person was Billy Graham, then you would have done a great service to the Lord and the Kingdom. Don't sell yourself short, thinking that you don't matter to the Lord or aren't in the five-fold ministry. Know Him for yourself and make yourself available to His Ability and HE WILL USE YOU.
The Church has been taught so many different things over the last two millenniums, that has resulted in controversy and confusion. That's why it's paramount that the Church listens to the Holy Spirit. Many in today's Church have lost contact with the personal relationship and communion with the Holy Spirit. We've turned our liberty to fellowship and learn over to others, expecting them to should our personal time with the Lord. We're to have teachers and pastors in the Church, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but they're not to pray, read God's Word and fellowship for us. They're to teach and train us how to do these things.
A football coach doesn't play on the field, he/she teaches the team players how to do so. The coach isn't the quarterback, but is there to teach the quarterback how to execute the plays the coach calls. No matter how we seemingly want the Holy Spirit to "takeover," He will only call the play. We're to execute the play that He calls.
We don't send the Holy Spirit to the hospital, but we take Him to the hospital with us. We don't just pray for the Holy Spirit to touch the sick, we yield our own hands to Him, so that He can touch the sick. The pastor's job description, isn't to visit the people in their homes or the hospital, all on his/her own. The pastor is supposed to delegate the Church community to do this. It's the job of every believer, to hear the Holy Spirit for themselves and then go where He sends them.
Every member of the Body of Christ, is responsible for having a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. This responsibility doesn't fall on the ministers alone. The pastor is called to teach and preach God's Word to the people. The people are to then take God's Word for themselves, individually. School teachers don't take the test for their students, but teaches the students to do the work for themselves. If a students fails a class, then it's not because they weren't taught, but because that student didn't apply the things he/she was taught. If the student didn't read the course curriculum the teacher laid out, then that student will probably fail the class.
The national news has been filled with college scandals, where the student's acceptance into a certain institution or the student's passing grades were bought by their parents. This won't profit the students, when they're out on their own and can be disastrous for them. Our Heavenly Father doesn't want to tell others what He wants and needs you to do, but He wishes to speak to you personally. We've lost the personal contact with the Father, because we've depended on someone else to do it for us. The time has come for God's family to return to having a one-on-One relationship with the Father. This doesn't mean that we no longer need to have teachers and preachers, but that we need to take responsibility for what they're teaching us. It's not the pastor's job to go all over praying for the sick, but he/she is the teach the people to "Go into all the world" and do the work that preacher has taught them to do, from God's Word.
We read in Luke 10, about Jesus' teaching the people and then sending them out to do the work He taught them to do. They returned from doing the work for themselves, both amazed and elated that they were able to do like Jesus taught them. Jesus could only be in one place at a time, so He trained up many to do the same work, by the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit could be brought into multiple homes and lives that Jesus couldn't be in.
I'm not talking about the Gifts of the Spirit, found in 1Corinthians 12, but about the Holy Spirit Himself, "Who does the work as He wills to profit with all." It's the Father, by the Holy Spirit Who is in you, that does the work. He only needs you, as a vehicle to take Him into the world. Notice how in Acts 9:10-11, God didn't go down and lay hands on Saul of Tarsus, but God sent Ananias to do this. Ananias was God's hands and only needed to answer the call. God did the work through Ananias, just like He did through Jesus.
Please, don't see yourself short of the Glory that abides within you. It's the Same Holy Spirit living in you, Who was in Jesus, Paul, Peter and yes, Ananias. If the Same Holy Spirit lives in you, then He only needs your availability. He has all the availability that He needs. He only requires us to "Go." We don't read about Ananias before or after this even, in Acts 9, but we do know that he had a personal relationship with the Lord, heard God's Voice and obeyed His Voice.
This might have been the only time God used Ananias for such a work, but his ministering to Saul accomplished a great thing for the Kingdom and the Church. Saul became Paul and wrote two-thirds of the new covenant, we're living in today. He was only one man, but Paul accomplished so much for God's Kingdom. If you only ministered to a single person at the Lord's direction and that person was Billy Graham, then you would have done a great service to the Lord and the Kingdom. Don't sell yourself short, thinking that you don't matter to the Lord or aren't in the five-fold ministry. Know Him for yourself and make yourself available to His Ability and HE WILL USE YOU.
Thursday, July 4, 2019
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Lesson 215 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WO::
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 was and is the Last and Only Sacrifice for mankind and He took the place of all the sacrifice and requirements of the Law and the old covenant. Under the Law, mankind had to make sacrifice and offerings for most all things, but Jesus completed all of the offerings and requirements, qualifying all of us for the Blessing. The Peace Offering was made by Jesus and took away any thought of an "angry" God, that stood between us. Today, many still view God as being angry and not pleased with them. Even sin in a believer's life, is no longer any of the devil's business, because we no longer belong to him and have "been set free from the Law of Sin and of Death," according to Romans 8:1-2.
Our covenant or family relationship with our Heavenly Father, was made secure through the Lamb of God, Jesus. John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "And they said to Him, Where is this Father of Your's? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me; if you knew Me you would know My Father also." The Church has been taught for years to believe that, "the Father and the Son as being separate beings." We see Jesus as One Who healed, had compassion and delivered those in bondage, but we see the Father as being One Who puts sickness, disabilities and trials on His children. No one would ever accuse Jesus of doing these things, but we see God in this light. Jesus said, "If you know Me, then you should know your Father too."
We either put aside our faith for liberty, thinking "it was God," or we are fainting in our faith in His setting us free. We should stand in faith, in the face of all opposition and see it as a distraction from the enemy. James 4:7-8 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him), and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners, get your soiled hands clean; realize you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests; and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery."
If you believe that it's God Whose making you have problems, then you are to submit. If it's the devil whose bringing the problems on you, then you are to resist. If you don't know which one it is, then you're in trouble. This is the wavering individuals with divided interests and are disloyal and in spiritual adultery. This might sound "hard and heartless" to some, but if Jesus didn't bring the hardships, trials, sickness, disabilities, then the Father doesn't bring them either. James 1:3 (Amplified) says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one." The word "tempted," is translated as "tried and tested." Jesus Himself taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, trials, and tests, but deliver us from the evil one," in Matthew 6:13 (Amplified).
This is the double-minded man that James writes about in James 1:8 (Amplified) saying, "For being as he is a man of two minds, hesitating, dubious, irresolute, he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides." If it's God, then you're to submit and if it's the enemy, then you are to resists. If you don't know which one it is, then how do you respond? Either action will bring results. The devil has been getting away with this deception for a long time, because we've lacked understanding of God's Word and His Grace.
Isaiah 54:9 (Amplified) says, "For this is like the days of Noah to Me; as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with your or rebuke you." Hebrews 12:6 (Amplified) says, "For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes even scourges every son in whom He accepts and welcomes to His Heart." Don't forget that we are Spiritual sons and daughters and are no longer "physical" in God's eyes. God is a Spirit, His Word is Spirit and you are Spirit. God disciples us by His Word and His Spirit, not by physical chastisement, like in the old covenant. 1Timothy 3:16 bears this out, to those who will draw close to Him. Thus, it says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness (in holy living), in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
God disciplines us, by His Word and His Holy Spirit. Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life, soul and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow, of the deepest parts of our nature, exposing and sifting, and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart."
When we veer the wrong way, God's Word will direct us back to where we belong. If we'll yield and submit to God's Word, then He will direct us to where He is leading. If you don't know God's Word, then you don't know which path to follow, which might result in you're saying, "God's testing me," instead of accepting the responsibility of hearing and heeding His Word. Many have yielded to this wrong falsehood, thinking and/or saying, "This is God's will for me." The enemy has laid many pitfalls have been laid before us and if we'll listen, then God will guide us past them. If we don't hear and continue on the wrong path, then it will lead to a place where God never intended us to be in. It wasn't God's will that you ended up there, but Grace will get us out of the pit, if we ask Him for it.
Don't be double-minded concerning God's Word or His will for your life. God never planned calamity and hardship for you. God planned "paths of righteousness for His Name's sake," for you, according to Psalm 23. We just read in 2Timothy 3:16 that, "God's Word was for our training in righteousness."
Our faith won't work for us, if we're double-minded about Go'd will and Word. I'm not implying that you won't have trials and tests, but you will know how to respond to them. If by faith, you choose to think "it's God," then you're free to do so. God will let you choose, even though it's not His will for you. Colossians 1:9 (Amplified) says, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Don't let the enemy deceive you into accepting his will for you, instead of the Father's will for you. Learn what God's will truly is and then walk in it. You'll have to fight the good fight of faith, in order to separate yourself from the traditional concepts of God being an angry God. If you've seen Jesus, then you've seen the Father. Jesus was the Teacher of His disciples and He taught them how to do His ministry, after He left. Jesus never made people sick, helpless or destitute, but He trained them by His Word and His Spirit. We must learn like they did and listen to His Voice.
Jesus was and is the Last and Only Sacrifice for mankind and He took the place of all the sacrifice and requirements of the Law and the old covenant. Under the Law, mankind had to make sacrifice and offerings for most all things, but Jesus completed all of the offerings and requirements, qualifying all of us for the Blessing. The Peace Offering was made by Jesus and took away any thought of an "angry" God, that stood between us. Today, many still view God as being angry and not pleased with them. Even sin in a believer's life, is no longer any of the devil's business, because we no longer belong to him and have "been set free from the Law of Sin and of Death," according to Romans 8:1-2.
Our covenant or family relationship with our Heavenly Father, was made secure through the Lamb of God, Jesus. John 8:19 (Amplified) says, "And they said to Him, Where is this Father of Your's? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me; if you knew Me you would know My Father also." The Church has been taught for years to believe that, "the Father and the Son as being separate beings." We see Jesus as One Who healed, had compassion and delivered those in bondage, but we see the Father as being One Who puts sickness, disabilities and trials on His children. No one would ever accuse Jesus of doing these things, but we see God in this light. Jesus said, "If you know Me, then you should know your Father too."
We either put aside our faith for liberty, thinking "it was God," or we are fainting in our faith in His setting us free. We should stand in faith, in the face of all opposition and see it as a distraction from the enemy. James 4:7-8 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him), and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners, get your soiled hands clean; realize you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests; and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery."
If you believe that it's God Whose making you have problems, then you are to submit. If it's the devil whose bringing the problems on you, then you are to resist. If you don't know which one it is, then you're in trouble. This is the wavering individuals with divided interests and are disloyal and in spiritual adultery. This might sound "hard and heartless" to some, but if Jesus didn't bring the hardships, trials, sickness, disabilities, then the Father doesn't bring them either. James 1:3 (Amplified) says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; God is incapable of being tempted by what is evil and He Himself tempts no one." The word "tempted," is translated as "tried and tested." Jesus Himself taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, trials, and tests, but deliver us from the evil one," in Matthew 6:13 (Amplified).
This is the double-minded man that James writes about in James 1:8 (Amplified) saying, "For being as he is a man of two minds, hesitating, dubious, irresolute, he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides." If it's God, then you're to submit and if it's the enemy, then you are to resists. If you don't know which one it is, then how do you respond? Either action will bring results. The devil has been getting away with this deception for a long time, because we've lacked understanding of God's Word and His Grace.
Isaiah 54:9 (Amplified) says, "For this is like the days of Noah to Me; as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with your or rebuke you." Hebrews 12:6 (Amplified) says, "For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes even scourges every son in whom He accepts and welcomes to His Heart." Don't forget that we are Spiritual sons and daughters and are no longer "physical" in God's eyes. God is a Spirit, His Word is Spirit and you are Spirit. God disciples us by His Word and His Spirit, not by physical chastisement, like in the old covenant. 1Timothy 3:16 bears this out, to those who will draw close to Him. Thus, it says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience and for training in righteousness (in holy living), in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
God disciplines us, by His Word and His Holy Spirit. Hebrews 4:12 (Amplified) says, "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power, making it active, operative, energizing and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life, soul and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow, of the deepest parts of our nature, exposing and sifting, and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart."
When we veer the wrong way, God's Word will direct us back to where we belong. If we'll yield and submit to God's Word, then He will direct us to where He is leading. If you don't know God's Word, then you don't know which path to follow, which might result in you're saying, "God's testing me," instead of accepting the responsibility of hearing and heeding His Word. Many have yielded to this wrong falsehood, thinking and/or saying, "This is God's will for me." The enemy has laid many pitfalls have been laid before us and if we'll listen, then God will guide us past them. If we don't hear and continue on the wrong path, then it will lead to a place where God never intended us to be in. It wasn't God's will that you ended up there, but Grace will get us out of the pit, if we ask Him for it.
Don't be double-minded concerning God's Word or His will for your life. God never planned calamity and hardship for you. God planned "paths of righteousness for His Name's sake," for you, according to Psalm 23. We just read in 2Timothy 3:16 that, "God's Word was for our training in righteousness."
Our faith won't work for us, if we're double-minded about Go'd will and Word. I'm not implying that you won't have trials and tests, but you will know how to respond to them. If by faith, you choose to think "it's God," then you're free to do so. God will let you choose, even though it's not His will for you. Colossians 1:9 (Amplified) says, "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Don't let the enemy deceive you into accepting his will for you, instead of the Father's will for you. Learn what God's will truly is and then walk in it. You'll have to fight the good fight of faith, in order to separate yourself from the traditional concepts of God being an angry God. If you've seen Jesus, then you've seen the Father. Jesus was the Teacher of His disciples and He taught them how to do His ministry, after He left. Jesus never made people sick, helpless or destitute, but He trained them by His Word and His Spirit. We must learn like they did and listen to His Voice.
Monday, July 1, 2019
Lesson 214 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." Each and every person who comes into the new creation family of God, has the responsibility of learning and walking with the Father. We've all been given the same Grace and Blessing and the above scripture tells us that, "We all have a share in God's fullness." Just being saved is enough for some believers, while others strive like Paul commended "toward the mark of the high calling of God." Some find contentment in their new lives in God, like they do in their natural lives. There's so much left unfulfilled in our new creation lives with the Father, because we're content with going to Heaven when we die and living morally good lives here on earth. This is acceptable to God, but there's so much more we can accomplish in the ministry He has sent us to do.
We've left the sick still sick and the blind persons in their blindness. We've let those who are in bondage to drugs and other weaknesses, remain bound. God has given us His fullness for here on earth, in order to get others saved and to teach them how to proceed to free others. The power of the Gospel seems to have been lost or diminished and not valid in many Christian circles. We've seemingly lost the zeal for moving into the Super-natural works of the ministry. We've turned the working of the Holy Spirit, over to those in the five-fold ministry, deciding they're charged with doing them.
We've decided that the Gifts of the Spirit found in 1Corinthians 12, aren't for everyone and are only for those who are called. 1Corinthians 12:11,7 (Amplified) says, "All these Gifts (achievements, abilities) are inspired and brought to pass by One and the Same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually exactly as He chooses." Verse 7 says, "But to each one is given the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (the evidence, the Spiritual Illumination of the Spirit for good and profit)."
You might not be called into the ministry of these five-fold portions, but the Same Holy Spirit lives inside you to do good and profit those who need Super-natural help from the Father. Jesus instructs His disciples about their ministry following His Ascension, in Mark 16:17,18-20 (Amplified). Jesus said that those who would believe what they heard would be born-again. Jesus went on to say in Verses 18-20, "These attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpents, and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will get well. So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the Message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it , Amen (So be it)."
The above scriptures tells us that those who would believe the Message they heard preached, were also called to speak in tongues, lay hands on the sick, cast out devils and do the works of the Gospel. These aren't those listed in 1Corinthians 12, but are for the whole body of Christians who would believe. It's the Same Holy Spirit Who was given to us to do good and to profit those in need. The ministry of setting captives free, was never intended to be left to only the five-fold ministry, but was given to do all believers, to do the works of Jesus and teach others about Him.
Not everyone in the five-fold ministry have received God's Super-natural ability. The Holy Spirit "gives these Gifts severally as He wills." If you're ministering to someone who needs healing, then the Holy Spirit will execute healing, in order to set them free. We've been taught that the Holy Spirit does these things for only a chosen few, instead of any believer that needs them. It's true that there are those in whom these Gifts operate more so than others, but that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit has left the rest of us out of His ability. The sick shouldn't have to wait until they can find someone in whom the Gift of Healing is working, in order to get well. They should be able to receive from the Same Holy Spirit, at the hands of any believer. This doesn't mean you have the Gift of Healing, but that you have the Gift of the Healer. Doesn't the Same Holy Spirit live in you and care as much for those you minister to, as He does for those of the five-fold ministry?
Acts 6:8 (Amplified) tells us that Stephen was appointed by the Apostles and was "full of Grace and Divine Blessing and favor, and power and strength and ability, worked great wonders and signs (miracles) among the people." Stephen wasn't a man from the five-fold ministry, but he yielded himself to the Holy Spirit and God used him mightily. Acts 8:5-7 (Amplified) says, "Philip [the deacon, not the apostle], went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ (the Messiah) to them (the people). And great crowds of people with one accord listened to and heeded what was said by Philip, as they heard him and watched the miracles and wonders which he kept performing from time to time. For foul spirits came out of many who were possessed by them screaming and shouting with a loud voice, and many who were suffering from palsy or were crippled were restored to health."
These Spiritual Gifts are given by and through, the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 12:11 (Amplified) says, "All these Gifts (achievements, abilities) are Inspired and brought to pass by one and the Same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually exactly as He chooses." When anyone needs these Gifts, in order to set the captives free, then it's up to His discretion to use them as He chooses. He isn't moved by titles, denominations or anything else. He's moved by setting the captives free and He does so "as He chooses." The Holy Spirit has been sent here, in order to continue Jesus' earthly ministry, by whosoever will believe and allow Him to do so.
This doesn't mean that you're now and Apostle or prophet, but you are a representative of God and Jesus to this world. The Holy Spirit has and can simultaneously use all the nine Gifts from 1Corinthians 12, to set one person free. God saved Philip, healed him, delivered him, filled him with the Spirit, called him and instructed Philip where he was to go, all at one time. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. All He needs is a believer to work through and 1Corinthians 12:11 (KJV) says, "He gives these Gifts severally as He wills."
We've left the sick still sick and the blind persons in their blindness. We've let those who are in bondage to drugs and other weaknesses, remain bound. God has given us His fullness for here on earth, in order to get others saved and to teach them how to proceed to free others. The power of the Gospel seems to have been lost or diminished and not valid in many Christian circles. We've seemingly lost the zeal for moving into the Super-natural works of the ministry. We've turned the working of the Holy Spirit, over to those in the five-fold ministry, deciding they're charged with doing them.
We've decided that the Gifts of the Spirit found in 1Corinthians 12, aren't for everyone and are only for those who are called. 1Corinthians 12:11,7 (Amplified) says, "All these Gifts (achievements, abilities) are inspired and brought to pass by One and the Same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually exactly as He chooses." Verse 7 says, "But to each one is given the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (the evidence, the Spiritual Illumination of the Spirit for good and profit)."
You might not be called into the ministry of these five-fold portions, but the Same Holy Spirit lives inside you to do good and profit those who need Super-natural help from the Father. Jesus instructs His disciples about their ministry following His Ascension, in Mark 16:17,18-20 (Amplified). Jesus said that those who would believe what they heard would be born-again. Jesus went on to say in Verses 18-20, "These attesting signs will accompany those who believe; in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpents, and even if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will get well. So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the Message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied it , Amen (So be it)."
The above scriptures tells us that those who would believe the Message they heard preached, were also called to speak in tongues, lay hands on the sick, cast out devils and do the works of the Gospel. These aren't those listed in 1Corinthians 12, but are for the whole body of Christians who would believe. It's the Same Holy Spirit Who was given to us to do good and to profit those in need. The ministry of setting captives free, was never intended to be left to only the five-fold ministry, but was given to do all believers, to do the works of Jesus and teach others about Him.
Not everyone in the five-fold ministry have received God's Super-natural ability. The Holy Spirit "gives these Gifts severally as He wills." If you're ministering to someone who needs healing, then the Holy Spirit will execute healing, in order to set them free. We've been taught that the Holy Spirit does these things for only a chosen few, instead of any believer that needs them. It's true that there are those in whom these Gifts operate more so than others, but that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit has left the rest of us out of His ability. The sick shouldn't have to wait until they can find someone in whom the Gift of Healing is working, in order to get well. They should be able to receive from the Same Holy Spirit, at the hands of any believer. This doesn't mean you have the Gift of Healing, but that you have the Gift of the Healer. Doesn't the Same Holy Spirit live in you and care as much for those you minister to, as He does for those of the five-fold ministry?
Acts 6:8 (Amplified) tells us that Stephen was appointed by the Apostles and was "full of Grace and Divine Blessing and favor, and power and strength and ability, worked great wonders and signs (miracles) among the people." Stephen wasn't a man from the five-fold ministry, but he yielded himself to the Holy Spirit and God used him mightily. Acts 8:5-7 (Amplified) says, "Philip [the deacon, not the apostle], went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ (the Messiah) to them (the people). And great crowds of people with one accord listened to and heeded what was said by Philip, as they heard him and watched the miracles and wonders which he kept performing from time to time. For foul spirits came out of many who were possessed by them screaming and shouting with a loud voice, and many who were suffering from palsy or were crippled were restored to health."
These Spiritual Gifts are given by and through, the Holy Spirit. 1Corinthians 12:11 (Amplified) says, "All these Gifts (achievements, abilities) are Inspired and brought to pass by one and the Same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually exactly as He chooses." When anyone needs these Gifts, in order to set the captives free, then it's up to His discretion to use them as He chooses. He isn't moved by titles, denominations or anything else. He's moved by setting the captives free and He does so "as He chooses." The Holy Spirit has been sent here, in order to continue Jesus' earthly ministry, by whosoever will believe and allow Him to do so.
This doesn't mean that you're now and Apostle or prophet, but you are a representative of God and Jesus to this world. The Holy Spirit has and can simultaneously use all the nine Gifts from 1Corinthians 12, to set one person free. God saved Philip, healed him, delivered him, filled him with the Spirit, called him and instructed Philip where he was to go, all at one time. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. All He needs is a believer to work through and 1Corinthians 12:11 (KJV) says, "He gives these Gifts severally as He wills."
Friday, June 28, 2019
Lesson 213 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."
1Corinthians 3:14-16 (Amplified) says, "In fact their minds were grown hard and calloused, they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding, for until this present day, when the old covenant is being read, that same veil still lies on their hearts, not being lifted to reveal that in Christ it is made void and done away. Yes, down to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their hearts and minds. But whenever a person turns in repentance to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away."
The veil spoken about in the above scripture, still lies on the hearts of many in today's Church. We don't understand the difference between the way our Heavenly Father disciplined those in the old covenant and the way He disciplines His family by His Word and His Spirit. We continue expecting Him to discipline us, like He did those who weren't born-again. The veil still lies over our hearts and minds, like we are under the old covenant, instead of being born-again, Spiritual being and God's family.
We don't need to work at obeying the Law, in order to qualify for the Blessing. We're qualified through the One and Only Sacrifice of Jesus. The Promises aren't based on our qualifications anymore, but on His. We've somehow allowed the veil to cover our hearts and minds, by the enemy's deceptions that tell us that we're "not worthy to accept what Jesus paid to give us." This is why faith is so important to today's Church. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his [Abraham's] descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
Through Jesus, we've already come into the inheritance of the Promise, but we've heard the Law of Moses preached for so long, that we still have a veil over our understanding. We continue expecting the Father to punish and correct us, by the same physical standards He used with those under the Law, instead of by our spirits, which are alive to Him through Jesus. Don't be misled. God still does correct and disciplines us, but He uses His Word and His Spirit to do so. That's why every Christian should understand 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified), which says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for instructions, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in Righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Why would we not adjust our lives by God's Word, instead of waiting until something happens to us physically and then believing "It was God's doing?" God speaks and corrects us by His Spirit and His Word, so we can avoid the pitfalls the enemy has laid before us and so we don't have to fall into them at the cost of our lives. Proverbs 17:10 (Amplified) says, "A reproof enters deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred lashes into a self-confident fool." Proverbs 15:5 (Amplified) says, "A fool despises his father's instruction and correction, but he who regards reproof acquires prudence."
The above scriptures aren't just "pretty words," but are for those of understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
For centuries, the Church has stumbled between the old and new covenants. Things don't work for God's family, because we cannot separate ourselves from the Law. The Law doesn't work for us, because we cannot keep it. Grace doesn't work for us, because we won't allow it to. We've mixed Law and Grace, thinking this is how it should be.
The Law operates by works, while Grace operates by faith. If we don't do everything the Law requires, then the Blessing is held back and if we try making Grace operate by works, then the Blessing is held back. It's either by Grace or not at all. Jesus paid an awesome price, in order to redeem us from the Curse of the Law. The Curse came when the people no longer did what the Law demanded. Grace has made the Law void and useless for the new creation child of God. The Blessing of God has already been made ours in Jesus. We don't operate by works any longer, but by Grace.
Our faith in the Finished Word of Jesus Christ, has already qualified us to the Blessing, because we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. The things we're trying to make work, have already been done and made ours through Jesus, if we will simply accept them. This was the Father's idea, not your's. If God didn't intend for you to have them, then He would have simply left us under the Law. These things were conditional and no one could ever keep the conditions. God did away with these conditions and made it all by Grace, through faith. The only condition is that we receive Jesus and accept by faith, what He has already done.
Some might ask, "Don't we have to at least try to do the Law?" "No." As being one in Jesus and with Him, we've already fulfilled the Law and all the Blessing are already ours. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Whether or not we see it, God sees us in Jesus, as having fulfilled all the Law and the prophets. In Jesus, our Heavenly Father you as never having violated any of His Words or commandments. You've been made perfect, in the perfection of Jesus.
Under the Law, "None were Righteous," but in Jesus, we have been made Righteous. This is an act of Grace and must be accepted by faith. If your deny His Righteousness and try to become righteous on your own, then you've put yourself back under the Law, which Jesus has already fulfilled for you. We've mixed Law and Grace, to a place where neither work like God intended.
The above scripture instructs us to, "With all you have gotten, get understanding." Without understanding, we've fallen into the same trap the enemy has used against the Church, for thousands of years. Man's idea of how to function in Spiritual understanding, is the same veil that covers and clouds the hearts and minds of believers. Law doesn't work by Grace and Grace cannot work by Law. One cancels the other out. You don't get your prayers answered, because you are good, but because God is good. We don't deserve anything, but God has just given it to us, by His Grace and Love.
In Hebrews 11 Paul writes about those of faith. Paul goes on in Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the Truth, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily and deftly and cleverly clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence, the appointed course of the race that is set before us."
I believe "that sin that deftly and cleverly clings to us and entangles us," is unbelief in what Grace has already done for us. We've limited the Holy One, like those in the Wilderness did, by our unbelief. We've accepted what we thought was correction by the flesh, without understanding that i the Father wasn't doing this, but the enemy. This has brought the Curse on those, who've been redeemed. We've staggered at the Promises through unbelief. We have allowed the enemy to have access, because we don't have understanding.
The Curse still is in the earth, but we have been exempted from the Curse, by faith in our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death." We must stay away from the dictates of the flesh. We must not allow our senses to bring unbelief and limit God in our lives.
1Corinthians 3:14-16 (Amplified) says, "In fact their minds were grown hard and calloused, they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding, for until this present day, when the old covenant is being read, that same veil still lies on their hearts, not being lifted to reveal that in Christ it is made void and done away. Yes, down to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their hearts and minds. But whenever a person turns in repentance to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away."
The veil spoken about in the above scripture, still lies on the hearts of many in today's Church. We don't understand the difference between the way our Heavenly Father disciplined those in the old covenant and the way He disciplines His family by His Word and His Spirit. We continue expecting Him to discipline us, like He did those who weren't born-again. The veil still lies over our hearts and minds, like we are under the old covenant, instead of being born-again, Spiritual being and God's family.
We don't need to work at obeying the Law, in order to qualify for the Blessing. We're qualified through the One and Only Sacrifice of Jesus. The Promises aren't based on our qualifications anymore, but on His. We've somehow allowed the veil to cover our hearts and minds, by the enemy's deceptions that tell us that we're "not worthy to accept what Jesus paid to give us." This is why faith is so important to today's Church. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his [Abraham's] descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
Through Jesus, we've already come into the inheritance of the Promise, but we've heard the Law of Moses preached for so long, that we still have a veil over our understanding. We continue expecting the Father to punish and correct us, by the same physical standards He used with those under the Law, instead of by our spirits, which are alive to Him through Jesus. Don't be misled. God still does correct and disciplines us, but He uses His Word and His Spirit to do so. That's why every Christian should understand 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified), which says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for instructions, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in Righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Why would we not adjust our lives by God's Word, instead of waiting until something happens to us physically and then believing "It was God's doing?" God speaks and corrects us by His Spirit and His Word, so we can avoid the pitfalls the enemy has laid before us and so we don't have to fall into them at the cost of our lives. Proverbs 17:10 (Amplified) says, "A reproof enters deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred lashes into a self-confident fool." Proverbs 15:5 (Amplified) says, "A fool despises his father's instruction and correction, but he who regards reproof acquires prudence."
The above scriptures aren't just "pretty words," but are for those of understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
For centuries, the Church has stumbled between the old and new covenants. Things don't work for God's family, because we cannot separate ourselves from the Law. The Law doesn't work for us, because we cannot keep it. Grace doesn't work for us, because we won't allow it to. We've mixed Law and Grace, thinking this is how it should be.
The Law operates by works, while Grace operates by faith. If we don't do everything the Law requires, then the Blessing is held back and if we try making Grace operate by works, then the Blessing is held back. It's either by Grace or not at all. Jesus paid an awesome price, in order to redeem us from the Curse of the Law. The Curse came when the people no longer did what the Law demanded. Grace has made the Law void and useless for the new creation child of God. The Blessing of God has already been made ours in Jesus. We don't operate by works any longer, but by Grace.
Our faith in the Finished Word of Jesus Christ, has already qualified us to the Blessing, because we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. The things we're trying to make work, have already been done and made ours through Jesus, if we will simply accept them. This was the Father's idea, not your's. If God didn't intend for you to have them, then He would have simply left us under the Law. These things were conditional and no one could ever keep the conditions. God did away with these conditions and made it all by Grace, through faith. The only condition is that we receive Jesus and accept by faith, what He has already done.
Some might ask, "Don't we have to at least try to do the Law?" "No." As being one in Jesus and with Him, we've already fulfilled the Law and all the Blessing are already ours. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Whether or not we see it, God sees us in Jesus, as having fulfilled all the Law and the prophets. In Jesus, our Heavenly Father you as never having violated any of His Words or commandments. You've been made perfect, in the perfection of Jesus.
Under the Law, "None were Righteous," but in Jesus, we have been made Righteous. This is an act of Grace and must be accepted by faith. If your deny His Righteousness and try to become righteous on your own, then you've put yourself back under the Law, which Jesus has already fulfilled for you. We've mixed Law and Grace, to a place where neither work like God intended.
The above scripture instructs us to, "With all you have gotten, get understanding." Without understanding, we've fallen into the same trap the enemy has used against the Church, for thousands of years. Man's idea of how to function in Spiritual understanding, is the same veil that covers and clouds the hearts and minds of believers. Law doesn't work by Grace and Grace cannot work by Law. One cancels the other out. You don't get your prayers answered, because you are good, but because God is good. We don't deserve anything, but God has just given it to us, by His Grace and Love.
In Hebrews 11 Paul writes about those of faith. Paul goes on in Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified) saying, "Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who have borne testimony to the Truth, let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily and deftly and cleverly clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence, the appointed course of the race that is set before us."
I believe "that sin that deftly and cleverly clings to us and entangles us," is unbelief in what Grace has already done for us. We've limited the Holy One, like those in the Wilderness did, by our unbelief. We've accepted what we thought was correction by the flesh, without understanding that i the Father wasn't doing this, but the enemy. This has brought the Curse on those, who've been redeemed. We've staggered at the Promises through unbelief. We have allowed the enemy to have access, because we don't have understanding.
The Curse still is in the earth, but we have been exempted from the Curse, by faith in our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death." We must stay away from the dictates of the flesh. We must not allow our senses to bring unbelief and limit God in our lives.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Lesson 212 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."
Hebrews 11:3 (KJV) says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed and put in order by the Word of God." Those without faith are still trying to understand the origins of the world and where mankind came from, by the carnal mind and science. One can't understand God's Truth of His Own creation, without having faith. The natural man can read and understand the words they're reading, but can't comprehend the Spiritual Wisdom and Revelation of the Truth. Paul writes in Colossians 1:9 (Amplified), "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) tells us, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom! For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
These scriptures from God's Word, must be received with the realization that natural man has no understanding of Spiritual things. They must be received into our spirit man, who knows God. Wisdom will guide you, understanding will bring Revelation and Revelation will bring faith. One can't read how the worlds were framed by God's Words, without Revelation. When Revelation comes, then we can "see" what the Word and God's Spirit is revealing to our spirit. Then, faith will come and we can walk in what we now "see."
Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) says, "Where there is no vision, no redemptive Revelation of God, the people perish, but he who keeps the Law of God, which includes the law of man, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he." The Law of God for the new creation man, is to "Love God and Love our neighbors as ourselves." He's not talking about the Law of Moses, but the new covenant Law of Love here. Without redemptive Revelation and understanding, we keep trying to walk under the Law of Moses and miss the Revelation of full redemption. In order to understand by faith, we must first see Truth. Without having the Holy Spirit and understanding, it's difficult to see. Galatians 3:12-13 (Amplified) says, "But the Law does not rest on faith (does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith), for it itself says; He who does them (the things prescribed by the Law), shall live by them, not by faith. Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the Curse (doom) of the Law and its condemnation by Himself becoming a Curse for us, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)."
Can you see yourself by faith, not being under the Curse of the Law? By faith, we understand and not by the Law. Understanding brings the Revelation spoken of in Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) which says, "Where there is no redemptive Revelation of God, the people perish." In John 6:63 (Amplified), Jesus says, "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."
Many of those Jesus spoke to during His earthly ministry, received from Him by only seeing what He was doing, instead of by Spiritual understanding. Today's Church has resorted back to only believing what we can see with our natural eyes, instead of the Revelation by the eyes of faith in the Spirit. We say, "I didn't feel God in today's service." God says in His Word that, "He will never leave us or forsake us, but will be with us always." This is understanding by faith. It's the redemptive vision and that's what we've based our salvation on, not how we feel.
The Holy Spirit has been working to bring the Church to believe by faith. This doesn't mean we should stop doing right, but we're to let right do the work, by trust in God's Word. Jesus told His followers in Matthew 16:15-17,18 (Amplified), "But who do you yourselves say that I Am? 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 Bar-Jonah. For the flesh and blood men have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in Heaven."
Revelation brought understanding to Peter. Even though no one else could see that Jesus was the Messiah, Revelation let Peter see. Jesus says in Verse 18 that "On this Revelation or understanding, the Church would be built and the powers of the enemy would not be strong enough to stop it." God's people still perish and receive the lies of the world, because they lack this Revelation and understanding of Who Jesus really is. We must, by the Revelation, see by faith. Do you see yourself as being redeemed from the Curse of the Law or do you see yourself as still be subject to it? Do you accept all the things under the Curse as "being part of life?" Or, do you resist them by faith in He Who redeemed us?
Hebrew 11:3 (Amplified) says, "By faith we understand. Without faith there is no Spiritual understanding, only intellectual understanding. The flesh profits nothing (there is no benefit in it at all), when it comes to Spiritual things." Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) tells us, "The spirit of man, that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God, is the Lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts." The Light of God's Word illuminates our spirit, not our human personality. Revelation and understanding are Spiritual, not carnal. This is why we must renew our minds by God's Word. Without Revelation, our minds will only bring intellectual recognition and not the Revelation knowledge of Jesus or the Father.
We all had problems and handled them by the knowledge we held, before being saved. Even now, after being saved, we still have problems, but we can handle them from a different perspective. This doesn't mean that we won't have problems, but that God has provided a better way to handle them. Jesus had more problems than any of us have or will have. Jesus never dealt with those problems by the way of the world, but with God's way.
1Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified) says, "For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), no matter how it comes or where it leads has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man that is, no temptation or trial that has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out, the means of escape to a landing place, that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently."
James 1:2-4 (Amplified) says, "Consider it wholly joyful my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith brings out endurance and steadfastness and patience, have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects, lacking in nothing." God didn't bring the trials. He will deliver you out of them, by faith and His Word.
Hebrews 11:3 (KJV) says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed and put in order by the Word of God." Those without faith are still trying to understand the origins of the world and where mankind came from, by the carnal mind and science. One can't understand God's Truth of His Own creation, without having faith. The natural man can read and understand the words they're reading, but can't comprehend the Spiritual Wisdom and Revelation of the Truth. Paul writes in Colossians 1:9 (Amplified), "For this reason we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) tells us, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom! For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
These scriptures from God's Word, must be received with the realization that natural man has no understanding of Spiritual things. They must be received into our spirit man, who knows God. Wisdom will guide you, understanding will bring Revelation and Revelation will bring faith. One can't read how the worlds were framed by God's Words, without Revelation. When Revelation comes, then we can "see" what the Word and God's Spirit is revealing to our spirit. Then, faith will come and we can walk in what we now "see."
Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) says, "Where there is no vision, no redemptive Revelation of God, the people perish, but he who keeps the Law of God, which includes the law of man, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he." The Law of God for the new creation man, is to "Love God and Love our neighbors as ourselves." He's not talking about the Law of Moses, but the new covenant Law of Love here. Without redemptive Revelation and understanding, we keep trying to walk under the Law of Moses and miss the Revelation of full redemption. In order to understand by faith, we must first see Truth. Without having the Holy Spirit and understanding, it's difficult to see. Galatians 3:12-13 (Amplified) says, "But the Law does not rest on faith (does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith), for it itself says; He who does them (the things prescribed by the Law), shall live by them, not by faith. Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the Curse (doom) of the Law and its condemnation by Himself becoming a Curse for us, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified)."
Can you see yourself by faith, not being under the Curse of the Law? By faith, we understand and not by the Law. Understanding brings the Revelation spoken of in Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) which says, "Where there is no redemptive Revelation of God, the people perish." In John 6:63 (Amplified), Jesus says, "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."
Many of those Jesus spoke to during His earthly ministry, received from Him by only seeing what He was doing, instead of by Spiritual understanding. Today's Church has resorted back to only believing what we can see with our natural eyes, instead of the Revelation by the eyes of faith in the Spirit. We say, "I didn't feel God in today's service." God says in His Word that, "He will never leave us or forsake us, but will be with us always." This is understanding by faith. It's the redemptive vision and that's what we've based our salvation on, not how we feel.
The Holy Spirit has been working to bring the Church to believe by faith. This doesn't mean we should stop doing right, but we're to let right do the work, by trust in God's Word. Jesus told His followers in Matthew 16:15-17,18 (Amplified), "But who do you yourselves say that I Am? 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 Bar-Jonah. For the flesh and blood men have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in Heaven."
Revelation brought understanding to Peter. Even though no one else could see that Jesus was the Messiah, Revelation let Peter see. Jesus says in Verse 18 that "On this Revelation or understanding, the Church would be built and the powers of the enemy would not be strong enough to stop it." God's people still perish and receive the lies of the world, because they lack this Revelation and understanding of Who Jesus really is. We must, by the Revelation, see by faith. Do you see yourself as being redeemed from the Curse of the Law or do you see yourself as still be subject to it? Do you accept all the things under the Curse as "being part of life?" Or, do you resist them by faith in He Who redeemed us?
Hebrew 11:3 (Amplified) says, "By faith we understand. Without faith there is no Spiritual understanding, only intellectual understanding. The flesh profits nothing (there is no benefit in it at all), when it comes to Spiritual things." Proverbs 20:27 (Amplified) tells us, "The spirit of man, that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God, is the Lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts." The Light of God's Word illuminates our spirit, not our human personality. Revelation and understanding are Spiritual, not carnal. This is why we must renew our minds by God's Word. Without Revelation, our minds will only bring intellectual recognition and not the Revelation knowledge of Jesus or the Father.
We all had problems and handled them by the knowledge we held, before being saved. Even now, after being saved, we still have problems, but we can handle them from a different perspective. This doesn't mean that we won't have problems, but that God has provided a better way to handle them. Jesus had more problems than any of us have or will have. Jesus never dealt with those problems by the way of the world, but with God's way.
1Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified) says, "For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), no matter how it comes or where it leads has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man that is, no temptation or trial that has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out, the means of escape to a landing place, that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently."
James 1:2-4 (Amplified) says, "Consider it wholly joyful my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith brings out endurance and steadfastness and patience, have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects, lacking in nothing." God didn't bring the trials. He will deliver you out of them, by faith and His Word.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Lesson 211 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
God says that this will be the Year of Understanding.
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."
Immediately after Adam's fall in Genesis 3:7, the Father set about to bring His children back to Himself. Genesis 3:21 (Amplified) says, "For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics of skin) and clothed them." The Lord took the life and blood of animals and made clothes for both Adam and Eve, immediately after their fall. The clothing wasn't nearly as important as the blood, which was shed to cover their sin.
The Law wasn't in effect yet, so God could operate by Grace. God looked for someone who would have faith in Him, to rebuild the relationship He once had with mankind and the earth. We read that Adam and Eve recounted their transgression in the Garden of Eden and how they were now estranged from Father God, to their family. Genesis 4:26 (Amplified) says, "And to Seth also a son was born, whom he Enoch. At this time men began to call upon God by the Name of the Lord."
Genesis 6:5-7,8-9 (Amplified) goes on, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said; I will destroy (blot out) and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground, not only man, but the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air-for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them."
Because of sin, God was faced with the very destruction of His Own creation, unless He could once again find a way to reach man. Verses 8-9 continue, "But Noah found Grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his evil generation; Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God."
God could continue the Plan He had for His family, through Noah. God could bring mankind back unto Himself, through one man's faith. Hebrews 11:7 (Amplified) says, "Prompted by faith, Noah, being forewarned of God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an Ark for the deliverance of his own family. By this, his faith which relied on God, he passed judgment and sentence on the world's unbelief and became an heir and possessor of righteousness, that relation of being right into which God puts the person who has faith."
Many today, continue struggling with the Flood and storied of the old covenant. Many Christians still struggle with the Flood and the Israelite's deliverance out of Egypt. Let's reread Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified), which says, "BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed and put in order by the Word of God." We can only understand the Mysteries of God, by faith. 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."
The people had no faith and therefore lacked understanding, when Jesus taught His Parables. Even born-again persons today, struggled with The Parables, because they lack faith in God's Word. We understand God's Word by faith. This is still Truth and is still powerful. We understand by faith. We struggle with healing, tongues, Gifts and even righteous, because we don't put faith in God's Word. We began in faith, when we were born-again, but then left our faith in the infant stage of our walk with God. We don't have understanding of God's Promises, which are to be appropriated by faith.
Genesis 2:5-6 (Amplified) tells us that Noah had never seen rain before, saying, "When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprang up, for the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till it (the ground). But there went up a mist (a fog, a vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground." Hebrews 11:7 (Amplified) says, "Noah put faith in God and did what God said even though there were no visible signs of the events that were to come."
We look for visible signs, instead of putting faith in God's Word. This is why by faith, we understand His Word. The natural mind and thoughts of mankind, even Christians, fight to understand God's Word, because we try to understand it without faith.
We've reduced God's Promises and His Gifts to man's understanding, instead of faith's understanding. As Christians, we're joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus and have all been given the same inheritance. Why then, do some Christians go on in God's Word, while others stay in the infant stage of the new birth? These blogs must be understood by faith, or they will simply become another source of division among the Church. Some dismiss them as being foolish, while others seek to understand them by faith and move into mature Christianity with the Father.
This doesn't separate God's family, when we arrive at our final place with Jesus. It does however, hold back God's will and His Plan in earth and for His people.
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."
Immediately after Adam's fall in Genesis 3:7, the Father set about to bring His children back to Himself. Genesis 3:21 (Amplified) says, "For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics of skin) and clothed them." The Lord took the life and blood of animals and made clothes for both Adam and Eve, immediately after their fall. The clothing wasn't nearly as important as the blood, which was shed to cover their sin.
The Law wasn't in effect yet, so God could operate by Grace. God looked for someone who would have faith in Him, to rebuild the relationship He once had with mankind and the earth. We read that Adam and Eve recounted their transgression in the Garden of Eden and how they were now estranged from Father God, to their family. Genesis 4:26 (Amplified) says, "And to Seth also a son was born, whom he Enoch. At this time men began to call upon God by the Name of the Lord."
Genesis 6:5-7,8-9 (Amplified) goes on, "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said; I will destroy (blot out) and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground, not only man, but the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air-for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them."
Because of sin, God was faced with the very destruction of His Own creation, unless He could once again find a way to reach man. Verses 8-9 continue, "But Noah found Grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord. This is the history of the generations of Noah. Noah was a just and righteous man, blameless in his evil generation; Noah walked in habitual fellowship with God."
God could continue the Plan He had for His family, through Noah. God could bring mankind back unto Himself, through one man's faith. Hebrews 11:7 (Amplified) says, "Prompted by faith, Noah, being forewarned of God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign, took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an Ark for the deliverance of his own family. By this, his faith which relied on God, he passed judgment and sentence on the world's unbelief and became an heir and possessor of righteousness, that relation of being right into which God puts the person who has faith."
Many today, continue struggling with the Flood and storied of the old covenant. Many Christians still struggle with the Flood and the Israelite's deliverance out of Egypt. Let's reread Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified), which says, "BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed and put in order by the Word of God." We can only understand the Mysteries of God, by faith. 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."
The people had no faith and therefore lacked understanding, when Jesus taught His Parables. Even born-again persons today, struggled with The Parables, because they lack faith in God's Word. We understand God's Word by faith. This is still Truth and is still powerful. We understand by faith. We struggle with healing, tongues, Gifts and even righteous, because we don't put faith in God's Word. We began in faith, when we were born-again, but then left our faith in the infant stage of our walk with God. We don't have understanding of God's Promises, which are to be appropriated by faith.
Genesis 2:5-6 (Amplified) tells us that Noah had never seen rain before, saying, "When no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprang up, for the Lord God had not yet caused it to rain upon the earth and there was no man to till it (the ground). But there went up a mist (a fog, a vapor) from the land and watered the whole surface of the ground." Hebrews 11:7 (Amplified) says, "Noah put faith in God and did what God said even though there were no visible signs of the events that were to come."
We look for visible signs, instead of putting faith in God's Word. This is why by faith, we understand His Word. The natural mind and thoughts of mankind, even Christians, fight to understand God's Word, because we try to understand it without faith.
We've reduced God's Promises and His Gifts to man's understanding, instead of faith's understanding. As Christians, we're joint-heirs with the Lord Jesus and have all been given the same inheritance. Why then, do some Christians go on in God's Word, while others stay in the infant stage of the new birth? These blogs must be understood by faith, or they will simply become another source of division among the Church. Some dismiss them as being foolish, while others seek to understand them by faith and move into mature Christianity with the Father.
This doesn't separate God's family, when we arrive at our final place with Jesus. It does however, hold back God's will and His Plan in earth and for His people.
Friday, June 21, 2019
Lesson 210 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 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."
Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) tells us, "By faith we understand, that the worlds were framed by the Word of God."
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)."
We understand by faith and cannot understand the things of God, without faith. We don't by understand God's Word by some carnal ability or education of man; it takes faith to understand. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
The Promise that we've inherited, is based simply on faith in Jesus Christ. We don't deserve the and can't earn the Promise by works or traditions. We've been taught that God will withhold His Blessing and Promise to us, because we don't deserve them. We don't ever deserve them, but God gives them by His Grace. If God's Word is only true when we deserve it, then we won't ever be able to be saved. We certainly didn't deserve salvation, when we asked God for it.
We understand by faith and not by reading His Word by our intellect. Many Christians struggle to believe that we've been made righteous in Jesus Christ. After being saved, we continue quoting Romans 3:10 (Amplified), saying "As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), no not one." This is a true statement about the unsaved in the world, because they haven't understood Romans 1:17 (Amplified), which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed by the way of faith (understanding) that arouses to more faith; BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND."
The only way to understand God's Word is by faith. You only get from God, what you believe Him for, according to His will. When Jesus was accepted and sat down with the Father, everything He died for and rose again for, was already ours. Some believed for it, while others didn't. It was still available to them, by what they believed. Jesus took away the sins of the world and while this is true, we still had to believe it, in order to activate God's forgiveness and salvation in our lives. Even though salvation is true for everyone, but some will not believe for it. Their unbelief won't stop this Truth, for those who would believe.
Paul writes to the Church in Romans 12:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed (changed( by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and attitudes." The word "renewal," according to The Strong's Concordance #342, means "regeneration, restoration, newness, and renovation." The word "restoration" especially caught my eye, when reading Psalm 23:3 which says, "He restores my soul." Your mind is in your soulish realm and restoring it means, bringing it back to God's Original intent, before Adam's fall.
How long do you think Adam walked with God, before his transgression? One day, one year, or a million years? Both the first and Last Adam had the mind of Christ. The same mind that is in Jesus, is the same mine that was in Adam. Restoring the mind can only be done by God's Word and His Holy Spirit. These will cause us to think like God intended His children to think, in the beginning.
We've been trained by the world, to think and operate like it does, but this wasn't true in the beginning. The thoughts we hold today aren't the thoughts that were in the minds of God's family at the beginning. It took thousands of years to teach mankind to die, be sick, trust in works and rituals and distrust God's Word. We've become cautious about trusting God's Word, by reasonings and natural fears. These have made us cautious to truly believe God will do what He says.
The Israelites were faced by the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh's army behind them, when they asked Moses, "What is your strategy?" Mose's answer was to raise his staff over the water. The Israelites had been trained to think like the Egyptians and they asked, "What kind of answer is this?" Their minds had been trained and confomed to that age and that world. The Awesome God of Abraham had been diminished in their thinking like the world thought, instead of what God thought.
We don't see many miracles in today's Church in America, because we're trying to know how to do them. We should understand by faith and allow God to be God and be obedient to Him. When you get God figured out, then please let me know too. God works by our obedience to Him in faith and the only way to understand this, is by faith. Jesus said that it was "The Father in Him, Who did the works." The people didn't understand Jesus' walking on water, because it required faith to do so. Peter got out of the boat and started walking on water by faith, until he remembered that he couldn't walk in water. When he understood it by faith, he was fine and didn't sink. When Peter tried analyzing his actions, then he sank. We understand by faith. We must do what God says to do and walk by faith, as He instructs us to do.
Hebrews 11:3 (Amplified) tells us, "By faith we understand, that the worlds were framed by the Word of God."
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)."
We understand by faith and cannot understand the things of God, without faith. We don't by understand God's Word by some carnal ability or education of man; it takes faith to understand. Romans 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
The Promise that we've inherited, is based simply on faith in Jesus Christ. We don't deserve the and can't earn the Promise by works or traditions. We've been taught that God will withhold His Blessing and Promise to us, because we don't deserve them. We don't ever deserve them, but God gives them by His Grace. If God's Word is only true when we deserve it, then we won't ever be able to be saved. We certainly didn't deserve salvation, when we asked God for it.
We understand by faith and not by reading His Word by our intellect. Many Christians struggle to believe that we've been made righteous in Jesus Christ. After being saved, we continue quoting Romans 3:10 (Amplified), saying "As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), no not one." This is a true statement about the unsaved in the world, because they haven't understood Romans 1:17 (Amplified), which says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed by the way of faith (understanding) that arouses to more faith; BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND."
The only way to understand God's Word is by faith. You only get from God, what you believe Him for, according to His will. When Jesus was accepted and sat down with the Father, everything He died for and rose again for, was already ours. Some believed for it, while others didn't. It was still available to them, by what they believed. Jesus took away the sins of the world and while this is true, we still had to believe it, in order to activate God's forgiveness and salvation in our lives. Even though salvation is true for everyone, but some will not believe for it. Their unbelief won't stop this Truth, for those who would believe.
Paul writes to the Church in Romans 12:2 (Amplified), "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs, but be transformed (changed( by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and attitudes." The word "renewal," according to The Strong's Concordance #342, means "regeneration, restoration, newness, and renovation." The word "restoration" especially caught my eye, when reading Psalm 23:3 which says, "He restores my soul." Your mind is in your soulish realm and restoring it means, bringing it back to God's Original intent, before Adam's fall.
How long do you think Adam walked with God, before his transgression? One day, one year, or a million years? Both the first and Last Adam had the mind of Christ. The same mind that is in Jesus, is the same mine that was in Adam. Restoring the mind can only be done by God's Word and His Holy Spirit. These will cause us to think like God intended His children to think, in the beginning.
We've been trained by the world, to think and operate like it does, but this wasn't true in the beginning. The thoughts we hold today aren't the thoughts that were in the minds of God's family at the beginning. It took thousands of years to teach mankind to die, be sick, trust in works and rituals and distrust God's Word. We've become cautious about trusting God's Word, by reasonings and natural fears. These have made us cautious to truly believe God will do what He says.
The Israelites were faced by the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh's army behind them, when they asked Moses, "What is your strategy?" Mose's answer was to raise his staff over the water. The Israelites had been trained to think like the Egyptians and they asked, "What kind of answer is this?" Their minds had been trained and confomed to that age and that world. The Awesome God of Abraham had been diminished in their thinking like the world thought, instead of what God thought.
We don't see many miracles in today's Church in America, because we're trying to know how to do them. We should understand by faith and allow God to be God and be obedient to Him. When you get God figured out, then please let me know too. God works by our obedience to Him in faith and the only way to understand this, is by faith. Jesus said that it was "The Father in Him, Who did the works." The people didn't understand Jesus' walking on water, because it required faith to do so. Peter got out of the boat and started walking on water by faith, until he remembered that he couldn't walk in water. When he understood it by faith, he was fine and didn't sink. When Peter tried analyzing his actions, then he sank. We understand by faith. We must do what God says to do and walk by faith, as He instructs us to do.
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Lesson 209 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 Grace heaped upon Grace. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
After speaking, Jesus asked those around Him whether the Words He spoke were God's will and they answered, "No!" Paul was tasked with ministering to the Gentiles, but no one understood that it was God's will to do so. If we know what God's will is and are seeking God's way of doing and being right, then you must continue doing so, without backing down. This is exactly what separated the early Christians in Hebrews 4 from those we read about in Hebrews 11. We must make sure it's God's will from His Word and then carry out His will in our lives. This doesn't mean we're "Lone Ranger Christians," but we can seek and walk with God as individuals.
We mustn't allow others to talk us out of our inheritance, with their unbelief. God will watch over His Word to perform it, even when others don't believe. We cannot give up our personal relationship with the Lord, in order to consolidate the majority. We can't lose out in what God desires to provide us in our lives and what He wants us to do. We must know God personally and not just by others.
Religion and tradition have taught us by what others believed and were taught. Not everything we've been taught has been wrong, but not all of it has been Truth either. God's Grace has provided us with the ability to know Him for ourselves and that's maybe the Greatest Gift He has given us. We've been taught so many different things, from the perspective of others. If we all had the same teaching, then we would all be of the same faith and unified.
Some believe one things, while other believers don't. Both groups might believe that Jesus is God's Son and has saved us from sin, but this is probably the only place there is agreement among the brethren. This is what is required for us to be saved, but what's your understanding about salvation? Does it just mean that our sin is forgiven and we're saved, or does His salvation include many other things as well? This seems to be the dividing line in Christianity.
Some believe that healing is for us today, while others don't believe it is. All believe that God can heal, but not all believe healing is God's will for everyone today. If you believe in God, then it would be foolish to believe that He cannot heal, so that's not the problem. The problem is whether you believe it's God's will to heal and that He will heal.
We understand healing, by faith and not by intellect. It's foolish and extreme to do what God calls us to do, by intellect. Moses understood by faith, that God could and would part the Red Sea. Many probably thought it seemed foolish when Moses pointed his staff at the waters, but Moses simply believed. I'm sure many believed it was foolish and the Wall of Jericho wouldn't fall down, by their simply walking around it and shouting. We understand by faith.
It's all about faith in God's ability to do what He says. We don't lean on our own understanding, but understand by faith. Moses didn't do anything, except believe God. God did the work, but we need faith to understand that. These men and women weren't great, but they understood faith. Faith doesn't make sense to the carnal mind. We keep trying to figure out how to do something, but our heads will never understand faith. Faith is a Spiritual force that is the ability to believe God at His Word. Even after you accomplish what God tells you to do, you cannot explain how it happened. How can pointing a stick at the Red Sea, make the waters part? We understand by faith that it's only God Who does the work. The free Gift of Righteousness comes only by faith. We can only truly receive, understand and appreciate what God has done, by faith.
We try to understand God's Word with our intellect and religious teachings. Then, when obstacles arise in our way, we say "It's God's will," instead of putting faith in His deliverance for us. The astronauts living on the International Space Station, can see the earth we live on and have sent us photos of the earth. We see that there is nothing holding it in place. It's only there, because God told it to be and we understand that by faith. Science has no explanation for why the earth is and what's holding it in place. They are trying to explain earth's existence without faith. We understand it by faith.
We read about those people of great faith in Hebrews 11. It required great faith in God, to do what they did. Moses didn't do anything, other than believing God and God parted the Red Sea, dropped Manna from Heaven, gave water from a rock, and delivered millions of people. All Moses did was trust God and understand God's Grace. Moses acted on God's instruction and when it was accomplished, the people failed to understand and have faith. Each time God moved, the people complained about the next move.
We must allow God to restore our Spiritual minds through His Word and the Holy Spirit, then the things that once seemed impossible, will become common occurrences in our lives. Do you remember going through a refresher course, at the beginning of school each fall? These were meant to restore our minds about things we have previously learned. The Holy Spirit does the same work, restoring, refreshing and renewing our minds, if we allow Him to do so. He is refreshing the mind of the spirit, so that we think according to God's Original Intent. These were things mankind once knew, but had forgotten.
This is why it's paramount that we read and know God's Word. It's not a duty or sacrifice, but it's like a refresher course, bringing us back to God's Original Intent. This is how God's intended it to be at the beginning. Once the teachings of the world are replaced by the mind of Christ, then miracles and healings and the works of the Gospel will once again become common place to the Church. When the doubts and unbelief of the enemy and the world are cleansed by the washing away of water by God's Word, then the trust and belief of God will be restored by the Great Shepherd Who restores our soul.
This refresher course will bring back to our remembrance, things that are already in our born-again spirit. When we became born-again, we were brought back to what God always intended us to be and God's Wisdom and nature are already in our new creation spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired John to write in 1John 2:20 (Amplified), "But you have been anointed by, you hold a Sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One and you all know the Truth, or you know all things." The Original Truth is already in your new creation spirit and is only restrained by an unrenewed mind and the world. We were made to trust the Father and contain His Wisdom and His Own way of thinking.
The Wisdom of God is already in our new creation spirit, but we need to restore what was lost at Adam's transgression, in our new man. The Same Teacher Who taught Adam and Jesus, now lives in our new creation spirit. We need to renovate and remove the clutter of the old man, in order to make clear the new man.
After speaking, Jesus asked those around Him whether the Words He spoke were God's will and they answered, "No!" Paul was tasked with ministering to the Gentiles, but no one understood that it was God's will to do so. If we know what God's will is and are seeking God's way of doing and being right, then you must continue doing so, without backing down. This is exactly what separated the early Christians in Hebrews 4 from those we read about in Hebrews 11. We must make sure it's God's will from His Word and then carry out His will in our lives. This doesn't mean we're "Lone Ranger Christians," but we can seek and walk with God as individuals.
We mustn't allow others to talk us out of our inheritance, with their unbelief. God will watch over His Word to perform it, even when others don't believe. We cannot give up our personal relationship with the Lord, in order to consolidate the majority. We can't lose out in what God desires to provide us in our lives and what He wants us to do. We must know God personally and not just by others.
Religion and tradition have taught us by what others believed and were taught. Not everything we've been taught has been wrong, but not all of it has been Truth either. God's Grace has provided us with the ability to know Him for ourselves and that's maybe the Greatest Gift He has given us. We've been taught so many different things, from the perspective of others. If we all had the same teaching, then we would all be of the same faith and unified.
Some believe one things, while other believers don't. Both groups might believe that Jesus is God's Son and has saved us from sin, but this is probably the only place there is agreement among the brethren. This is what is required for us to be saved, but what's your understanding about salvation? Does it just mean that our sin is forgiven and we're saved, or does His salvation include many other things as well? This seems to be the dividing line in Christianity.
Some believe that healing is for us today, while others don't believe it is. All believe that God can heal, but not all believe healing is God's will for everyone today. If you believe in God, then it would be foolish to believe that He cannot heal, so that's not the problem. The problem is whether you believe it's God's will to heal and that He will heal.
We understand healing, by faith and not by intellect. It's foolish and extreme to do what God calls us to do, by intellect. Moses understood by faith, that God could and would part the Red Sea. Many probably thought it seemed foolish when Moses pointed his staff at the waters, but Moses simply believed. I'm sure many believed it was foolish and the Wall of Jericho wouldn't fall down, by their simply walking around it and shouting. We understand by faith.
It's all about faith in God's ability to do what He says. We don't lean on our own understanding, but understand by faith. Moses didn't do anything, except believe God. God did the work, but we need faith to understand that. These men and women weren't great, but they understood faith. Faith doesn't make sense to the carnal mind. We keep trying to figure out how to do something, but our heads will never understand faith. Faith is a Spiritual force that is the ability to believe God at His Word. Even after you accomplish what God tells you to do, you cannot explain how it happened. How can pointing a stick at the Red Sea, make the waters part? We understand by faith that it's only God Who does the work. The free Gift of Righteousness comes only by faith. We can only truly receive, understand and appreciate what God has done, by faith.
We try to understand God's Word with our intellect and religious teachings. Then, when obstacles arise in our way, we say "It's God's will," instead of putting faith in His deliverance for us. The astronauts living on the International Space Station, can see the earth we live on and have sent us photos of the earth. We see that there is nothing holding it in place. It's only there, because God told it to be and we understand that by faith. Science has no explanation for why the earth is and what's holding it in place. They are trying to explain earth's existence without faith. We understand it by faith.
We read about those people of great faith in Hebrews 11. It required great faith in God, to do what they did. Moses didn't do anything, other than believing God and God parted the Red Sea, dropped Manna from Heaven, gave water from a rock, and delivered millions of people. All Moses did was trust God and understand God's Grace. Moses acted on God's instruction and when it was accomplished, the people failed to understand and have faith. Each time God moved, the people complained about the next move.
We must allow God to restore our Spiritual minds through His Word and the Holy Spirit, then the things that once seemed impossible, will become common occurrences in our lives. Do you remember going through a refresher course, at the beginning of school each fall? These were meant to restore our minds about things we have previously learned. The Holy Spirit does the same work, restoring, refreshing and renewing our minds, if we allow Him to do so. He is refreshing the mind of the spirit, so that we think according to God's Original Intent. These were things mankind once knew, but had forgotten.
This is why it's paramount that we read and know God's Word. It's not a duty or sacrifice, but it's like a refresher course, bringing us back to God's Original Intent. This is how God's intended it to be at the beginning. Once the teachings of the world are replaced by the mind of Christ, then miracles and healings and the works of the Gospel will once again become common place to the Church. When the doubts and unbelief of the enemy and the world are cleansed by the washing away of water by God's Word, then the trust and belief of God will be restored by the Great Shepherd Who restores our soul.
This refresher course will bring back to our remembrance, things that are already in our born-again spirit. When we became born-again, we were brought back to what God always intended us to be and God's Wisdom and nature are already in our new creation spirit. The Holy Spirit inspired John to write in 1John 2:20 (Amplified), "But you have been anointed by, you hold a Sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One and you all know the Truth, or you know all things." The Original Truth is already in your new creation spirit and is only restrained by an unrenewed mind and the world. We were made to trust the Father and contain His Wisdom and His Own way of thinking.
The Wisdom of God is already in our new creation spirit, but we need to restore what was lost at Adam's transgression, in our new man. The Same Teacher Who taught Adam and Jesus, now lives in our new creation spirit. We need to renovate and remove the clutter of the old man, in order to make clear the new man.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Lesson 208 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."
Our Heavenly Father and the Kingdom function on a different level of Truth, than what we've been taught and followed. "God's Word is forever settled in Heaven and is exalted above God's Holy Name," according to Psalm 138:2 (Amplified), where the Psalmist says, "I will worship toward Your Holy Temple and praise Your Name for Your Loving-kindness and for Your Truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your Name and Your Word and You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name."
God will not violate His Word, not even for us. When do things that are contrary to His Word and even though He understands, God will not change. If the enemy could get God to violate His Word, then Truth would be unstable, for the entire universe and it would collapse. We must know God's Word and walk in His Truth, in order to see that it's upheld in our earthly lives. God's Word worked for us, when we acted on His Word about salvation, because it is Truth. When we acted on God's Truth, He could fulfill His Word on our behalf and we were born-again. After being born-again though, we've tried doing the rest of God's Promises on our own terms, causing them to not work for us.
Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." God's way of doing and being right, are His Word and His Promises to and for us, in Jesus. All of thee things are "given us besides," when we take time to renew our mind by the Kingdom principles.
Many believers say, "I don't think we need to do all these things, in order to go to Heaven." It is true that we must only believe on the Son of God, as our Sacrifice and Savior, in order to be born-again. It wasn't only about going to Heaven though, but it's about Heaven coming back into this earth. God now has access into this earthly realm and into this world system by His Spirit, Who lives and moves through us, the Body of Christ.
God needs man, in order to operate in this earth. God gave dominion to man from the very beginning and because He honors His Word, man still has dominion. This is why it's paramount that mankind submits to the Spirit of God and follows Him. When we do our own thing after being saved, then we hinder the work of the Holy Spirit's carrying out God's will on earth.
There is no power in rituals and traditions, to set men free or deliver them. This is man's idea of how to serve God and isn't God's way of doing and being right. Many think they have no responsibility in our own salvation, but this isn't true. After being saved and becoming part of God's family, we are to submit to the Father in every respect and do as He says to do. We are to watch how Jesus walked in His earthly ministry. Jesus is our Example and He said, "I only do what I hear My Father tell Me to do, I only say what I hear My Father say, and I only go where My Father tells Me to go."
Jesus never go caught up in the rituals and traditions of men. If He had, then we wouldn't be saved today. Jesus preached and followed the instructions of God's Kingdom. We've never taken the time to study the Laws that govern the Kingdom, which are God's way of doing and being right. We're violating Truth, when we speak contrary to God's way and His Word. Jesus was very careful to keep His conversation in line with God's Word. John 3:34 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
Today's Church doesn't place much value on words. God says that we are now the righteous of God, but we declare that "None are righteous." It might sound "humble," but it's not God's Own Message to His family. God says that "the Blessings of Abraham have come upon us, through Jesus Christ," but we continue to speak the Curse upon ourselves, thinking that the Father puts things upon us, in order to teach us something. God says that we "live by Grace," but we try "being Blessed," by observing the Law and it's rituals. God's Word says that "Jesus is our Healer," but we fight for the right to be sick, thinking this part of God's Word "isn't for us today."
God has Laws that govern Heaven and His Kingdom and He will not and cannot, change them for any of us. We are the understand God's way, not the other way around. If God didn't think we could do it, then He would never have sent us into the world to preach it.
We're offended when someone tries teaching us, above our carnal and traditional manner. Many Christians believe that the Promise of the Holy Spirit and a new language "aren't important," and some Christian circles believe them to "be of the devil." Is is any wonder that God's family is struggling against and losing the fight of Spiritual warfare for mankind? We've centered more on what the enemy has done to torment us, instead of our having the Father's Word of deliverance. God didn't leave us helpless against this insane outlaw spirit, but He gave us the authority and Power of the Holy Spirit and the Name of Jesus Christ to defeat him.
Paul tells Timothy in 2Timothy 2:15 (Amplified), "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved, tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling and skillfully teaching), the Word of Truth." This is what every believer has been called to do. We can't always rely on and live by the study of others. We are privileged to have the ability to come into God's Presence and learn. This is maybe the greatest part of Grace.
Our Heavenly Father and the Kingdom function on a different level of Truth, than what we've been taught and followed. "God's Word is forever settled in Heaven and is exalted above God's Holy Name," according to Psalm 138:2 (Amplified), where the Psalmist says, "I will worship toward Your Holy Temple and praise Your Name for Your Loving-kindness and for Your Truth and faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your Name and Your Word and You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name."
God will not violate His Word, not even for us. When do things that are contrary to His Word and even though He understands, God will not change. If the enemy could get God to violate His Word, then Truth would be unstable, for the entire universe and it would collapse. We must know God's Word and walk in His Truth, in order to see that it's upheld in our earthly lives. God's Word worked for us, when we acted on His Word about salvation, because it is Truth. When we acted on God's Truth, He could fulfill His Word on our behalf and we were born-again. After being born-again though, we've tried doing the rest of God's Promises on our own terms, causing them to not work for us.
Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." God's way of doing and being right, are His Word and His Promises to and for us, in Jesus. All of thee things are "given us besides," when we take time to renew our mind by the Kingdom principles.
Many believers say, "I don't think we need to do all these things, in order to go to Heaven." It is true that we must only believe on the Son of God, as our Sacrifice and Savior, in order to be born-again. It wasn't only about going to Heaven though, but it's about Heaven coming back into this earth. God now has access into this earthly realm and into this world system by His Spirit, Who lives and moves through us, the Body of Christ.
God needs man, in order to operate in this earth. God gave dominion to man from the very beginning and because He honors His Word, man still has dominion. This is why it's paramount that mankind submits to the Spirit of God and follows Him. When we do our own thing after being saved, then we hinder the work of the Holy Spirit's carrying out God's will on earth.
There is no power in rituals and traditions, to set men free or deliver them. This is man's idea of how to serve God and isn't God's way of doing and being right. Many think they have no responsibility in our own salvation, but this isn't true. After being saved and becoming part of God's family, we are to submit to the Father in every respect and do as He says to do. We are to watch how Jesus walked in His earthly ministry. Jesus is our Example and He said, "I only do what I hear My Father tell Me to do, I only say what I hear My Father say, and I only go where My Father tells Me to go."
Jesus never go caught up in the rituals and traditions of men. If He had, then we wouldn't be saved today. Jesus preached and followed the instructions of God's Kingdom. We've never taken the time to study the Laws that govern the Kingdom, which are God's way of doing and being right. We're violating Truth, when we speak contrary to God's way and His Word. Jesus was very careful to keep His conversation in line with God's Word. John 3:34 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
Today's Church doesn't place much value on words. God says that we are now the righteous of God, but we declare that "None are righteous." It might sound "humble," but it's not God's Own Message to His family. God says that "the Blessings of Abraham have come upon us, through Jesus Christ," but we continue to speak the Curse upon ourselves, thinking that the Father puts things upon us, in order to teach us something. God says that we "live by Grace," but we try "being Blessed," by observing the Law and it's rituals. God's Word says that "Jesus is our Healer," but we fight for the right to be sick, thinking this part of God's Word "isn't for us today."
God has Laws that govern Heaven and His Kingdom and He will not and cannot, change them for any of us. We are the understand God's way, not the other way around. If God didn't think we could do it, then He would never have sent us into the world to preach it.
We're offended when someone tries teaching us, above our carnal and traditional manner. Many Christians believe that the Promise of the Holy Spirit and a new language "aren't important," and some Christian circles believe them to "be of the devil." Is is any wonder that God's family is struggling against and losing the fight of Spiritual warfare for mankind? We've centered more on what the enemy has done to torment us, instead of our having the Father's Word of deliverance. God didn't leave us helpless against this insane outlaw spirit, but He gave us the authority and Power of the Holy Spirit and the Name of Jesus Christ to defeat him.
Paul tells Timothy in 2Timothy 2:15 (Amplified), "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved, tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling and skillfully teaching), the Word of Truth." This is what every believer has been called to do. We can't always rely on and live by the study of others. We are privileged to have the ability to come into God's Presence and learn. This is maybe the greatest part of Grace.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Lesson 207 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."
It makes the inheritance, Blessing and favor that we've received in Jesus useless, if we believe they're only for when we die and go to Heaven and not for while we're here on earth. When we arrive in the full Presence of the Father, we don't need anything else. It's Grace that has given the honor of being accepted to the Father, but when I'm in His full Presence, then I won't have to try being accepted, because He's accepted me into His Presence. Most of what Jesus left us in His will, is to be used and operated during our earthly life.
What will you do with the ability to pray for the sick, when you're in Heaven? How many sick people do you think there are in Heaven? Having the commission to cast out devils, will be of no use in Heaven, because there aren't any devils in Heaven. Even the Blessing we've received, will be of no avail in Heaven, because all who are in the Father's Kingdom have no needs.
We won't need the Promises made to us through Jesus throughout God's Word, when we're in Heaven, because no on there will have any needs. I'm not sure when God's people came to believe that these Spiritual Blessings were for when we go to Heaven. These Spiritual Blessings are the Gift of God's Spirit poured out upon us and in us, while we're here. We're to use them, in order to set mankind free. We cannot free mankind on our own, but only through the Spiritual Blessing of God, on and in our lives.
In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us that we are in a Spiritual battle and how we're to stand in that battle. Our opponent isn't man, but are the spiritual forces of the enemy. We're useless in this battle for mankind, unless we have the Spiritual Blessings and Gift to fight with. Our being nice, doesn't discourage or dismiss the forces of darkness, we need the Spiritual Blessing of the Holy Spirit and the Blood and Name of Jesus Christ to do so. We sometimes forget that we are in warfare with a spiritual outlaw who has nothing but contempt for mankind and who refuses to abide by anything other than the Power of God in our lives.
Satan isn't the "boogeyman" and he can't be dismissed by anything, but the Power of the Name and Blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus has delegated the authority to use His Name in combat, to the Church, His Body. Jesus has given us the Power of Attorney to use His Name and He will back it up by the Word and Spirit of God!
The Spiritual Blessings are backed by the entire force of Heaven, God, the Holy Spirit, the angels and the Power of His Word, in order to do what He sent us here to do on earth. Not one believer has been left without all it takes to set the captives free. We've been commissioned to cast out devils and we've been supplied with the Spiritual Blessings to do this and set someone free. If it takes cleansing a leper, then we've been commissioned to do so. We have the Spiritual Blessing to do whatever is needed to bring mankind out of captivity. God has supplied all of Heaven's resources to us, in order to do what He's commissioned us to do.
If we lead people to salvation, but don't teach them about who they are in Christ Jesus, then we're leaving them babies who are in danger of being tormented by spiritual forces, but without any idea how to stand against those forces. We don't dare say that "You have victory in Jesus, while you're on this side of Heaven," but we tell them that, "These are the troubles of being saved." We center more on the tribulations, instead of the triumphs. We are not victims, but we God's Own family. We were never left to be defeated by an enemy who has already been rendered helpless, by Jesus' Sacrifice. We must stop with the "grasshoppers in the sight of giants" mentality and look up unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Satan's influence over the minds of men, could ever convince God's children that we're to be bullied and run over by the foe Jesus defeated and whose power, Jesus complete broke. The only weapon satan now has over God's children, is deception. If he can deceive us into thinking it's God's will for us to be sick, suffer and die prematurely, then we will be subject to what he designs for us.
While carefully reading Paul's Letters to the Church, you'll find that he never quit when things were tough. Paul continued on, until he had finished the course God set before him. If Paul had not been so determined to do God's will and finish the course, then we wouldn't know the full extent of what Jesus did and who we are in Him. Thankfully, Paul didn't stop teaching the Revelation Jesus gave him.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:13 (Amplified), "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me); I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency." This is the Spiritual Blessing we share in the Body of Christ. His sufficiency is infused in us and is flowing through us, for His Glory. We would only be mere men and women, if we didn't have the Spiritual Blessing which is "Christ in us, our hope of Glory."
We're born-again from on High, by the Holy Spirit, Who now lives in and through us. This Spiritual Blessing has not only given us new Life, but also bring new Life to others. Ephesians 6:11 (Amplified) instructs us to, "Put on God's whole armor (the armor of a heavily-armed soldier which God supplies), that we may be able to successfully stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the devil."
Notice that we are to put it on and God is to supply it. He has done His part by supplying it, but we've been slow in putting it on. We cannot successfully stand, without the full armor. Satan is insane, but he's not stupid and he knows what has been working for him for centuries. The things he's been using, are all that he still has to use, according to 1Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified) which says, "For no temptation, no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man, that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His compassionate nature and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure; but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out (the means of escape) to a landing place that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently."
Many Christians read the above scripture and believe it means, "God will not put more on you, than you can bear." This isn't what it says though. This scripture never tells us that, "God put it on you," but it does say that, "God will not allow the enemy to introduce some new and different trials and temptations that aren't already common to man." There is nothing new under the sun. Whatever comes, God is faithful and can be trusted. Through Jesus, God has already supplied everything we need to stand the tests and be victorious in it. This is why we must "Put on the armor." God doesn't put it on us, but He supplies it for us to put on.
Many might reply, "None are Righteous, no not one." When we deny that we've been made righteous, by faith in Christ Jesus, then we've failed to put on the breastplate of righteousness that Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:14. If you don't believe in this faith teaching, then you don't have the shield of faith that quenches the flaming missiles of the wicked one. The Armor of God is for battle. The first thing we learned in Boot Camp, was what our armor is and how to put it on. Then, we were ready to battle. The only piece that is for offense, is the sword of the Spirit, which is God's Word. If you don't know God's Word, then you don't have a weapon of offense, so you're only defending yourself and not advancing.
It makes the inheritance, Blessing and favor that we've received in Jesus useless, if we believe they're only for when we die and go to Heaven and not for while we're here on earth. When we arrive in the full Presence of the Father, we don't need anything else. It's Grace that has given the honor of being accepted to the Father, but when I'm in His full Presence, then I won't have to try being accepted, because He's accepted me into His Presence. Most of what Jesus left us in His will, is to be used and operated during our earthly life.
What will you do with the ability to pray for the sick, when you're in Heaven? How many sick people do you think there are in Heaven? Having the commission to cast out devils, will be of no use in Heaven, because there aren't any devils in Heaven. Even the Blessing we've received, will be of no avail in Heaven, because all who are in the Father's Kingdom have no needs.
We won't need the Promises made to us through Jesus throughout God's Word, when we're in Heaven, because no on there will have any needs. I'm not sure when God's people came to believe that these Spiritual Blessings were for when we go to Heaven. These Spiritual Blessings are the Gift of God's Spirit poured out upon us and in us, while we're here. We're to use them, in order to set mankind free. We cannot free mankind on our own, but only through the Spiritual Blessing of God, on and in our lives.
In Ephesians 6, Paul tells us that we are in a Spiritual battle and how we're to stand in that battle. Our opponent isn't man, but are the spiritual forces of the enemy. We're useless in this battle for mankind, unless we have the Spiritual Blessings and Gift to fight with. Our being nice, doesn't discourage or dismiss the forces of darkness, we need the Spiritual Blessing of the Holy Spirit and the Blood and Name of Jesus Christ to do so. We sometimes forget that we are in warfare with a spiritual outlaw who has nothing but contempt for mankind and who refuses to abide by anything other than the Power of God in our lives.
Satan isn't the "boogeyman" and he can't be dismissed by anything, but the Power of the Name and Blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus has delegated the authority to use His Name in combat, to the Church, His Body. Jesus has given us the Power of Attorney to use His Name and He will back it up by the Word and Spirit of God!
The Spiritual Blessings are backed by the entire force of Heaven, God, the Holy Spirit, the angels and the Power of His Word, in order to do what He sent us here to do on earth. Not one believer has been left without all it takes to set the captives free. We've been commissioned to cast out devils and we've been supplied with the Spiritual Blessings to do this and set someone free. If it takes cleansing a leper, then we've been commissioned to do so. We have the Spiritual Blessing to do whatever is needed to bring mankind out of captivity. God has supplied all of Heaven's resources to us, in order to do what He's commissioned us to do.
If we lead people to salvation, but don't teach them about who they are in Christ Jesus, then we're leaving them babies who are in danger of being tormented by spiritual forces, but without any idea how to stand against those forces. We don't dare say that "You have victory in Jesus, while you're on this side of Heaven," but we tell them that, "These are the troubles of being saved." We center more on the tribulations, instead of the triumphs. We are not victims, but we God's Own family. We were never left to be defeated by an enemy who has already been rendered helpless, by Jesus' Sacrifice. We must stop with the "grasshoppers in the sight of giants" mentality and look up unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
Satan's influence over the minds of men, could ever convince God's children that we're to be bullied and run over by the foe Jesus defeated and whose power, Jesus complete broke. The only weapon satan now has over God's children, is deception. If he can deceive us into thinking it's God's will for us to be sick, suffer and die prematurely, then we will be subject to what he designs for us.
While carefully reading Paul's Letters to the Church, you'll find that he never quit when things were tough. Paul continued on, until he had finished the course God set before him. If Paul had not been so determined to do God's will and finish the course, then we wouldn't know the full extent of what Jesus did and who we are in Him. Thankfully, Paul didn't stop teaching the Revelation Jesus gave him.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:13 (Amplified), "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me); I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency." This is the Spiritual Blessing we share in the Body of Christ. His sufficiency is infused in us and is flowing through us, for His Glory. We would only be mere men and women, if we didn't have the Spiritual Blessing which is "Christ in us, our hope of Glory."
We're born-again from on High, by the Holy Spirit, Who now lives in and through us. This Spiritual Blessing has not only given us new Life, but also bring new Life to others. Ephesians 6:11 (Amplified) instructs us to, "Put on God's whole armor (the armor of a heavily-armed soldier which God supplies), that we may be able to successfully stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the devil."
Notice that we are to put it on and God is to supply it. He has done His part by supplying it, but we've been slow in putting it on. We cannot successfully stand, without the full armor. Satan is insane, but he's not stupid and he knows what has been working for him for centuries. The things he's been using, are all that he still has to use, according to 1Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified) which says, "For no temptation, no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man, that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His Word and to His compassionate nature and He can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure; but with the temptation He will always also provide the way out (the means of escape) to a landing place that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently."
Many Christians read the above scripture and believe it means, "God will not put more on you, than you can bear." This isn't what it says though. This scripture never tells us that, "God put it on you," but it does say that, "God will not allow the enemy to introduce some new and different trials and temptations that aren't already common to man." There is nothing new under the sun. Whatever comes, God is faithful and can be trusted. Through Jesus, God has already supplied everything we need to stand the tests and be victorious in it. This is why we must "Put on the armor." God doesn't put it on us, but He supplies it for us to put on.
Many might reply, "None are Righteous, no not one." When we deny that we've been made righteous, by faith in Christ Jesus, then we've failed to put on the breastplate of righteousness that Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:14. If you don't believe in this faith teaching, then you don't have the shield of faith that quenches the flaming missiles of the wicked one. The Armor of God is for battle. The first thing we learned in Boot Camp, was what our armor is and how to put it on. Then, we were ready to battle. The only piece that is for offense, is the sword of the Spirit, which is God's Word. If you don't know God's Word, then you don't have a weapon of offense, so you're only defending yourself and not advancing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)