This book sums up ALL things!
We must be very careful of being swayed by the words of men;
by the seeing of our eyes and the hearing of our ears.
We must be very careful that we do not add to or take away.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Living Word - Bob Robin
Are you living in the past?
Remembering what Christ said...
To disciples ‘way back then...
Is this your Daily Bread?
Does God’s word come at ‘‘second hand,"
That He’s said to another...
And has His word just filtered down
From brother on to brother?
You think God’s mute. . . forgotten how
To speak to folks today?
And all He says, is what He’s said
‘Has nothing more to say?
God’s speaking now! He speaks the same
As first His word was heard,
In fact, “King James” is not His name;
His name’s “THE LIVING WORD.”
Who has an eye, then let them read
Things that the Bible said.
But let him hear, who has an ear -
Hear God! For He’s not dead.
God’s not just book, of ink and paper,
A version or translation
Of history but greater;
He’s “right now” revelation.
Yes, read the scriptures, they are fine...
Heavenly words — anybody’s version.
He’s more than chapter, verse, and line,
Our Lord’s a “real live” person!
— By Bob Robin
Judging and Discerning - Lynette Woods
Judging and Discerning
by Lynette Woods
All Scripture references are from The Amplified Bible
"Do not judge and criticize others so that you may not be judged yourselves. For just as you judge others you will be judged, and in accordance with the measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. Why do you stare from without at the very small particle in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of the timber in your own eye? You hypocrite, first get the beam of timber out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the tiny particle out of your brother’s eye." Matthew 7:1-3,5.
Are we ever required to judge others? Are we to judge ourselves? In regard to judging, Jesus said "I am able to do nothing from Myself. Even as I hear, I judge; I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision; and My judgment is right and just because I do not seek or consult My own will but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me. Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgment and the whole business of judging entirely into the hands of the Son." John 5:22,30. From the things that Jesus said to people, it certainly seems as though He judged others: "You are of your father the devil... Whoever is of God listens to God. This is the reason you do not listen to Me: because you do not belong to God and are not in harmony with Him. But I know you and understand that you have not the love of God in you." John 8:44, 47; John 5:42.
There seems to be a deeper teaching here than simply 'don’t judge others' because Jesus DID judge others! In the context of the verses above from Matthew 7 Jesus seemed to be saying don’t judge unless you have first been dealt with yourself in that area or you won’t be of any help and will be a hypocrite. When the thing has been dealt with in you, then you can help another with the help you yourself have received (2 Cor 1:3-5). It is difficult to see anything with a beam of wood in your eye! A speck is irritating but at least you can still see something! When the beam is out of your eye; THEN you are able to SEE to take the tiny speck out of your brother’s eye and you will be a help and a blessing to him because of it. If you are trying to get a speck out of someone else's eye when there is a beam in your own eye, even if you have the best of intentions and are trying to be helpful you're still likely to cause severe damage to your brother or sister's eye instead of dealing carefully with one small speck; because you cannot see well enough to help. Eyesight is a very precious thing both in the physical and in the spiritual.
Judgments and words bring either death or life. Sometimes God allows judgments and words to bring death to what is of the flesh in us so that Christ's Life will be increased in a person. But because words have the potential to bring either death or life, we must be very careful with them. It is so easy to pass judgment on others and to think that we are judging righteously and yet we may be completely wrong and may be judging through our flesh and not through the Spirit at all.
We usually make our judgments based upon what we think we see and perceive, but what we often don't realize is that what we are focusing on and seeing may be just what we know (our knowledge!) and not God's Knowledge. We ought to discern whether a person is full of the fruit of Life from the tree of Life and know that this is the ONLY thing which is vital - Christ and His Life. We typically misjudge by instead judging from our own knowledge of good and evil - thus we make our judgments and decisions based upon what WE believe to be either good or evil.
Our enemy still deceives us in the same way as he deceived Adam and Eve: by tempting us to make a judgment about something, and then deceiving us into believing our judgments and perceptions are correct and that they will not bring death! The Truth will only bring Life when it is given IN the Life and IN the Way - Christ. In giving any judgments, we have to be very careful and sure that we are sharing only what HE wants us to and thus allowing His Spirit to bring further revelation in His own time and way to the person. Otherwise we may be stepping ahead of Him and taking over the role of the Holy Spirit in a person's life and bringing unnecessary offense and division as a result. We need to be looking for Christ's Life in one another and uniting on that One Thing instead of nitpicking over 'many things'.
When we judge one another based upon our knowledge, we are likely to be unintentionally judging God's work. For example, we may see someone who appears to be open and trusting. We may decide that they are naive and have never had their trust betrayed but the exact opposite may be true - the trust may be the result of the Life of Christ which has triumphed in enabling them to continue to trust in spite of that trust having been abused! Or we may know someone who is strong and unshakeable. We might come to the conclusion that they are proud, stubborn, arrogant and unteachable. But we may be completely wrong, what we may not see is that this strength is the result of the work of Christ which has come about through much weakness, humbling and brokenness - it is His Strength which we have mistaken as being natural strength. In judging these things incorrectly based upon our limited knowledge, we have in fact judged the fruit and work of the Tree of Life in their lives. And who are we to criticize and judge God and His work in someone? We need to instead discern and know LIFE! The Hebrew word for Life means something which is flowing, fresh, active, alive, sustaining and maintaining. His Life must be what we discern, perceive and focus upon.
The way I see it at this point in time is that we may only be given authority to judge others in the areas in which we ourselves have already been judged/dealt with. You won’t be so likely to point out a speck with an attitude of pride but humility and love when you know what a huge beam you just had in your own eye! We must come from a position of knowing that we will all stand before God and that we are all sinners.
It seems that judging others is only permissible or required when the thing you are judging has already been taken out of you or has been dealt with in yourself. "Therefore you have no excuse or defense, O man, whoever you are who judges and condemns another. For in posing as judge and passing sentence on another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge are habitually practicing the very same things that you censure and denounce." Romans 2:1-3. We frequently find that people will accuse us of something we clearly see they themselves are guilty of! We can so easily spot the inconsistencies, contradictions and problems in one another's lives but are often blind to them in our own life. The issue seems to be righteous versus unrighteous judgment and judging by the Spirit of Life rather than by outward appearances or what WE think is right or wrong - good or evil. So often we are just so completely wrong or deceived in our judgments because we don't know people's hearts. Instead of judging from heart knowledge, we judge from head knowledge of what appears to be either good or evil to us. Our personal judgments of what is good can be just as wrong and dangerous as our judgments of what is evil! The whole deception of Satan was to get Adam and Eve to rely upon themselves and THEIR knowledge and reasoning rather than simply relying on Life from God, and this deception still works with us as descendants of Adam.
We must be careful never to judge by the external and by what we think we see but by what we are shown by the Spirit of God. "You set yourselves up to judge according to the flesh and by what you see. I do not set Myself up to judge or condemn anyone. Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in making it, but there are two of us, I and the Father Who sent Me. I have much to say about you and to judge and condemn. But He Who sent Me is true and I tell the world only the things that I have heard from Him." John 8:15,16, 26. We cannot justify judging our brothers and sisters by what we observe in the natural as if the Bible gives license to that; but balance is required because by the same token we must not avoid having to judge when it is necessary and required.
According to Paul, we are not required to pass judgment on the world, but rather on those who are part of us! We normally do the opposite; we judge those who are of the world who are "so much worse than us" (such pride and self righteousness and hypocrisy on our part!) but we wouldn’t dare speak out against the sin that is in the Body; but Paul seemed to do the opposite: "I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house." 1 Cor 5:12,13 TM.
Paul appears to have judged others; even from a distance: "As for my attitude, though I am absent from you in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already decided and passed judgment as if actually present, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, on the man who has committed such a deed." 1 Cor 5:3,4. Righteous judgment is something that is necessary but not often practiced today. Paul seemed to have an understanding of this whereby he knew that God would hold him personally responsible if he did not give the WHOLE counsel of God to the people. (Acts 20:26-27). His understanding of this may have been from the prophet Ezekiel who was told by God: "If I say to the wicked, You shall surely die, and you do not give him warning or speak to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered yourself. Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and some gift which I lay before him he perverts into an occasion to sin and he commits iniquity, he shall die; because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered but his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also you have delivered yourself from guilt." Ezekiel 3:18-21. This is quite a responsibility indeed.
Many people have already judged themselves simply by accepting or rejecting the Word of God. "Anyone who rejects Me and persistently sets Me at naught, refusing to accept My teachings, has his judge; for the very message that I have spoken will itself judge and convict him at the last day." John 12:48. "Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment, as a Separator in order that there may be separation between those who believe on Me and those who reject Me, to make the sightless see and to make those who see become blind. Some Pharisees who were near, hearing this remark, said to Him, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you would have no sin; but because you now claim to have sight, your sin remains. If you were blind you would not be guilty of sin, but because you insist, We do see clearly, you are unable to escape your guilt." John 9:39-41.
We must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those areas in our lives where we do not see clearly or are blind. This is one area in which our brothers and sisters can be very helpful in helping get the speck (or beam!) out of our eye. When we are looking in the mirror of the Word we can only see one side of ourselves; sometimes others can show us things which they can see that we are not able to see ourselves, BUT it must be in the Way, Truth and Life of Christ or it will bring destruction to a person. Our enemy delights in accusing and condemning us by pointing out all our faults and getting us occupied with analyzing ourselves and trying to make Self better or more acceptable. It cannot be done. There is NOTHING in us naturally that is right and holy which is why we so desperately need Christ to redeem us; not only from sin but also from Self!
May He give us Grace to be willing to see and receive His judgment on our own flesh and to exercise righteous judgment from Him.
"For if we searchingly examined ourselves detecting our shortcomings and recognizing our own condition, we should not be judged and penalty decreed. But when we fall short and are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined and chastened so that we may not be condemned to eternal punishment along with the world." 1 Corinthians 11:31,32.
Related Article
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Perils of Legality - Harry Foster
The Perils of Legality
by Harry Foster
(First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Vol. 20-3, May-June 1942)
Acts 27:9-26,44.
We take this experience of Paul's not merely for its own sake, but as an illustration of the supremely important truth of the difference between a legalistic attitude and a standing in grace. Out of terrors which might strike despair into the stoutest heart comes the ringing cry of the man who knows the grace of God,
"Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God."
All the exhortations of the Word are calling us to "go on," but it is of extreme importance that we go on in grace, for once we are found on legal grounds there is an end to all progress. If the law reigned, neither Paul, nor the centurion, nor the master, nor the owner, could have any future at all. All hope of salvation would then be taken away. Since the grace of God reigns, however, they were able to be of good cheer, and to go on in hope.
There are few matters of graver importance than that of legality. Right through the Old Testament we are confronted with the oft-recurring tendency of the human heart to choose its own ground, which is legal, instead of accepting God's ground, which is that of grace. Legality is a fault, not of the ungodly, but of those who have an earnest zeal for God. In the New Testament the same phenomenon reappears among the people of God. Like the Galatians they are ever prone to build again the edifice which at their conversion they had destroyed. Having been found on the ground of free grace, they are so quickly moving away from it; having begun in faith, they seek to be made perfect by works.
This tendency did not end with the New Testament. The multitude of sects and heresies in modern Christendom appals us. It would take a lifetime to discover the particular fallacy of each one, but here is a simple test which will almost invariably expose their untruth; in some point they make salvation to depend upon works and not upon grace. Not only does the great Roman Catholic system stand foursquare on grounds of legality, but every departure from Divine truth tends to move on to the same legal basis, for legality is very dear to the natural man. For this reason every new sect has its rules and prohibitions, its regulations as to what must be done and what is prohibited; not so much with reference to moral laws as to provide a basis of enjoying the Divine favour.
But the principle of salvation "by works of law" goes even deeper than this. Even among truly Evangelical Christians it is only too apt to creep in. If we track down the source of clashes, strained relationships, criticisms, schisms and pride, we shall generally find it in a failure in respect of the grace of God. In other words, legality has again asserted itself, even in the House of God. As it was with the Jews and the Judaisers, so with the Church of today; men are overtaken by a legalistic spirit even in their very zeal for God.
Without attempting any precise definition of legality, may I indicate a few of its characteristics?
Legalists are always occupied with externalities. They attach the greatest importance to the niceties of orthodox practice and language as things in themselves. By them the simple practices of the New Testament are made into a ritual. The spirit of a thing is lost sight of in an exaggerated devotion to the thing, whereas to God nothing has value apart from the spiritual truth it is meant to express.
Moreover the legalistic mind is always obsessed with deciding what is right and what is wrong. That, after all, is what the law is for! Far be it from us to encourage any laxity in the matter of what is morally right or morally wrong. If, however, we make ourselves judges or arbitrators; if we let our relationship with other believers be governed by our own interpretation of what is right and wrong; if, indeed, being right, we insist upon our own rights, we have been overtaken by legality. There is no possibility of spiritual progress if it is made to depend on blamelessness, either in ourselves or in others.
There is an outstanding case of this in the parable of the two debtors. The one, you may remember, was pardoned a large debt which he owed to his 'master. But he immediately seized upon a fellow-servant, who owed him a trifling sum, and demanded prompt and full payment. He was punished as a wicked servant. So far as the matter of the hundred pence was concerned he was right, and his debtor was blameworthy. He had the law on his side: nevertheless his master condemned him. He was right; and yet he was grievously wrong. Having become an object of grace he sinned gravely in refusing to show grace to another. How many bitter words and cruel deeds among the Lord's people are due to a legalistic insistence on what is "Scriptural"! An unforgiving spirit is but one aspect of legality. A proneness to be always judging the rights and wrongs of everything can manifest itself in countless ways, until it becomes an attitude of mind, a basis of life, and an obsession.
Then again legality is always profuse in argument. Reasoning is the business of the Law Courts. The emotions of the heart have little place there, but logic and ability to argue are essential. The pharisaical mind can dispute every matter and prove its own correctness, even from the Scriptures. It delights in controversy. It is so argumentative that it can never conceive of the possibility of its being wrong. It even dares to dispute with the Lord.
Legality is independent in a wrong way; it has forsaken the yoke of Christ to come under a yoke of bondage to law. The Galatians were told that if they sought to live by "works of law" they were "severed from Christ," having "fallen away from grace." Such a state does not necessarily involve gross evil living. It rather means that those concerned have departed from that utter dependence upon Christ which is essential to standing in Divine grace, and have become self-sufficient. The legalist imagines he knows just how and why God works, as though Divine activity could be reduced to mere formulae. He will probe into every circumstance where the Lord's blessing seems to be lacking, seeking the cause in some supposed breach of spiritual rules. Now while it is true that spiritual principles do obtain in all God's working, we can never confine Him to our understanding of His laws. Grace always goes beyond such limits, and surprises those who live by it. The legalist, however, is never surprised, for he imagines that he knows the explanation and the cause of all that takes place.
We refrain from enlarging on these features in order to stress our main point, which is the paralysing effect of legality on spiritual life.
"Sirs, be of good cheer!" Only a heart full of the grace of Christ could have enabled the apostle to speak such words to such men at such a time. If Paul's attitude to his fellow-travelers had been at all legalistic he would never have addressed them thus. He had told the centurion what would happen, but his warning was despised and his advice unheeded. Quite clearly the leaders were wholly to blame for the sad predicament of the whole ship's company: Paul was right, and they were altogether in the wrong. However, he did not allow his behavior towards them to be governed by this fact. The legalist would have said that Paul deserved to be saved, and the others deserved to be lost. Paul was no legalist, so he made great claims upon the grace of God, and the Lord gave him all that sailed with him.
Happily, indeed, for Paul that he was no legalist, for perhaps he deserved as badly as any of them! What was he doing in that ship? Why had he persisted in going up to Jerusalem? And why had he become involved in Judaistic practices there? The centurion had foolishly taken his own course, instead of listening to the voice of the Lord. A careful reading of Acts 21 makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that the apostle himself had done the very same thing. His protest, "Ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have... gained this harm and loss" may well have been an echo of the Lord's reproof to his own heart. What then? Has failure, even disobedience, alienated him from God's love? The legalist says "Yes." The Scriptures say "No," for in spite of everything the gracious Lord stood by him, and said, "Be of good .cheer, Paul."
Legally, the centurion and his fellows had forfeited all rights to Paul's love, even as the apostle might be thought to have forfeited all claims upon the love of God. Only grace can maintain love. Nothing so paralyses our sense of God's love, and nothing so hinders love to others as a legalistic frame of mind about the rights and wrongs of conduct. Away in Corinth and Rome there were Christians quarrelling and standing aloof from one another over unimportant matters of judgment, allowing barriers to arise between them over foolish trivialities. Why? Because instead of receiving one another as Christ received them - in grace - they were criticizing one another's judgment and understanding of the truth. There is always division and a breakdown of brotherly love when relationships are brought on to a legal basis.
The Lord may have so dealt with us that we cannot do certain things which other servants of God practice. Let us not, indeed, compromise, or sacrifice our revelation of God's will, but at the same time we must not despise these others, nor have a separateness of spirit towards them. Spiritual progress is always attended by this temptation to judge others. Those who approximate most closely to God's will are most conscious of faultiness. If, however, progress is to be genuine it must be in the love of God, and the subtle tendency to become legal-minded must be resisted and overcome.
Faith can only triumph where grace reigns. Surely if the law governed there would be no future for such men who had rejected God's warning, and steered their own course. There would be no place for faith. Paul might justly have said, "All hope and expectations are gone. It is useless to trust or pray. We shall sink here as we deserve, for we have disobeyed the Lord." He might have, but he did not. Instead, having impressed upon them how wrong and foolish they had been, he exhorted them to be of good cheer; for grace, thank God, is greater than all our folly and sin. Faith, then, can be strong. Paul is bold to believe that all will be saved according to the Lord's promise.
Faith is impossible without grace. If God's blessing is made to follow logically upon our observance of rules of procedure, any failure on our part suspends all further expectation from Him. How can faith persist and triumph, when God's way has been missed, if there is no confidence in the abounding grace of the Lord? The Devil will invariably point out our faults and failures, sometimes bringing back to remembrance mistakes of years ago, in order to challenge and wither our faith. It is important for us to recognise our faults, and to learn from our mistakes, but we must not let them be the ruling factor. Grace reigns! Doubtless Paul profited from his mistakes. Certainly the centurion learned his lesson. But that was not all. They might still have been dejected and hopeless men, but for the Lord's appearance in grace, bidding them rejoice and have faith. We too may feel dejected about ourselves or about others, and give ourselves to grieving over failure, spiritual dullness and unworthiness; but rather let us be of good cheer, and believe God!
So far we have spoken only of the human side, but there is a Divine aspect to the matter. Paul's arrival at Rome was not merely for his own blessing; it represented a goal of God's purpose. He had been chosen as an instrument for the fulfillment of God's will, but had that depended upon a relationship based legally upon rights and wrongs, that will was doomed to failure from the start. After Paul's doubtful conduct in going up to Jerusalem, and his still more doubtful behavior there, the Lord twice appeared to His servant, encouraging him with the assurance that, though the way might be strange, the end was sure: "Thou must stand before Caesar." What is true of this event in the apostle's life is also true in the great end of all Divine purpose. The grace of God provides for the realisation of God's full intention for His people, in spite of their unworthiness. Therein lies the supreme importance of abiding in grace. Satan knows that, while the people of God are found on the ground of legality, there is an arrest of the Divine purpose. If, then, he finds a zeal for God among them, he will seek to nullify it by introducing legality among them, thus causing them to set up barriers as to what must be and what must not; to regard the things of God from the viewpoint of earthly order and procedure, or to concentrate on the weaknesses or faultiness of one another. If he succeeds in this there is no good cheer, and there is no going on unto the fullness of Christ.
A glorious goal is set before the people of God. Legally they have neither the right nor the ability to attain it; but grace beckons them on, and cries triumphantly above the noise of the storm, "Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me." The full promise of God shall find fulfillment in a people who maintain their life in the realm where grace reigns.
by Harry Foster
(First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Vol. 20-3, May-June 1942)
Acts 27:9-26,44.
We take this experience of Paul's not merely for its own sake, but as an illustration of the supremely important truth of the difference between a legalistic attitude and a standing in grace. Out of terrors which might strike despair into the stoutest heart comes the ringing cry of the man who knows the grace of God,
"Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God."
All the exhortations of the Word are calling us to "go on," but it is of extreme importance that we go on in grace, for once we are found on legal grounds there is an end to all progress. If the law reigned, neither Paul, nor the centurion, nor the master, nor the owner, could have any future at all. All hope of salvation would then be taken away. Since the grace of God reigns, however, they were able to be of good cheer, and to go on in hope.
Man's Tendency Towards Legalism
There are few matters of graver importance than that of legality. Right through the Old Testament we are confronted with the oft-recurring tendency of the human heart to choose its own ground, which is legal, instead of accepting God's ground, which is that of grace. Legality is a fault, not of the ungodly, but of those who have an earnest zeal for God. In the New Testament the same phenomenon reappears among the people of God. Like the Galatians they are ever prone to build again the edifice which at their conversion they had destroyed. Having been found on the ground of free grace, they are so quickly moving away from it; having begun in faith, they seek to be made perfect by works.
This tendency did not end with the New Testament. The multitude of sects and heresies in modern Christendom appals us. It would take a lifetime to discover the particular fallacy of each one, but here is a simple test which will almost invariably expose their untruth; in some point they make salvation to depend upon works and not upon grace. Not only does the great Roman Catholic system stand foursquare on grounds of legality, but every departure from Divine truth tends to move on to the same legal basis, for legality is very dear to the natural man. For this reason every new sect has its rules and prohibitions, its regulations as to what must be done and what is prohibited; not so much with reference to moral laws as to provide a basis of enjoying the Divine favour.
But the principle of salvation "by works of law" goes even deeper than this. Even among truly Evangelical Christians it is only too apt to creep in. If we track down the source of clashes, strained relationships, criticisms, schisms and pride, we shall generally find it in a failure in respect of the grace of God. In other words, legality has again asserted itself, even in the House of God. As it was with the Jews and the Judaisers, so with the Church of today; men are overtaken by a legalistic spirit even in their very zeal for God.
Some Features of Legality
Without attempting any precise definition of legality, may I indicate a few of its characteristics?
Legalists are always occupied with externalities. They attach the greatest importance to the niceties of orthodox practice and language as things in themselves. By them the simple practices of the New Testament are made into a ritual. The spirit of a thing is lost sight of in an exaggerated devotion to the thing, whereas to God nothing has value apart from the spiritual truth it is meant to express.
Moreover the legalistic mind is always obsessed with deciding what is right and what is wrong. That, after all, is what the law is for! Far be it from us to encourage any laxity in the matter of what is morally right or morally wrong. If, however, we make ourselves judges or arbitrators; if we let our relationship with other believers be governed by our own interpretation of what is right and wrong; if, indeed, being right, we insist upon our own rights, we have been overtaken by legality. There is no possibility of spiritual progress if it is made to depend on blamelessness, either in ourselves or in others.
There is an outstanding case of this in the parable of the two debtors. The one, you may remember, was pardoned a large debt which he owed to his 'master. But he immediately seized upon a fellow-servant, who owed him a trifling sum, and demanded prompt and full payment. He was punished as a wicked servant. So far as the matter of the hundred pence was concerned he was right, and his debtor was blameworthy. He had the law on his side: nevertheless his master condemned him. He was right; and yet he was grievously wrong. Having become an object of grace he sinned gravely in refusing to show grace to another. How many bitter words and cruel deeds among the Lord's people are due to a legalistic insistence on what is "Scriptural"! An unforgiving spirit is but one aspect of legality. A proneness to be always judging the rights and wrongs of everything can manifest itself in countless ways, until it becomes an attitude of mind, a basis of life, and an obsession.
Then again legality is always profuse in argument. Reasoning is the business of the Law Courts. The emotions of the heart have little place there, but logic and ability to argue are essential. The pharisaical mind can dispute every matter and prove its own correctness, even from the Scriptures. It delights in controversy. It is so argumentative that it can never conceive of the possibility of its being wrong. It even dares to dispute with the Lord.
Legality is independent in a wrong way; it has forsaken the yoke of Christ to come under a yoke of bondage to law. The Galatians were told that if they sought to live by "works of law" they were "severed from Christ," having "fallen away from grace." Such a state does not necessarily involve gross evil living. It rather means that those concerned have departed from that utter dependence upon Christ which is essential to standing in Divine grace, and have become self-sufficient. The legalist imagines he knows just how and why God works, as though Divine activity could be reduced to mere formulae. He will probe into every circumstance where the Lord's blessing seems to be lacking, seeking the cause in some supposed breach of spiritual rules. Now while it is true that spiritual principles do obtain in all God's working, we can never confine Him to our understanding of His laws. Grace always goes beyond such limits, and surprises those who live by it. The legalist, however, is never surprised, for he imagines that he knows the explanation and the cause of all that takes place.
We refrain from enlarging on these features in order to stress our main point, which is the paralysing effect of legality on spiritual life.
Legality Hinders Love
"Sirs, be of good cheer!" Only a heart full of the grace of Christ could have enabled the apostle to speak such words to such men at such a time. If Paul's attitude to his fellow-travelers had been at all legalistic he would never have addressed them thus. He had told the centurion what would happen, but his warning was despised and his advice unheeded. Quite clearly the leaders were wholly to blame for the sad predicament of the whole ship's company: Paul was right, and they were altogether in the wrong. However, he did not allow his behavior towards them to be governed by this fact. The legalist would have said that Paul deserved to be saved, and the others deserved to be lost. Paul was no legalist, so he made great claims upon the grace of God, and the Lord gave him all that sailed with him.
Happily, indeed, for Paul that he was no legalist, for perhaps he deserved as badly as any of them! What was he doing in that ship? Why had he persisted in going up to Jerusalem? And why had he become involved in Judaistic practices there? The centurion had foolishly taken his own course, instead of listening to the voice of the Lord. A careful reading of Acts 21 makes it difficult to resist the conclusion that the apostle himself had done the very same thing. His protest, "Ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have... gained this harm and loss" may well have been an echo of the Lord's reproof to his own heart. What then? Has failure, even disobedience, alienated him from God's love? The legalist says "Yes." The Scriptures say "No," for in spite of everything the gracious Lord stood by him, and said, "Be of good .cheer, Paul."
Legally, the centurion and his fellows had forfeited all rights to Paul's love, even as the apostle might be thought to have forfeited all claims upon the love of God. Only grace can maintain love. Nothing so paralyses our sense of God's love, and nothing so hinders love to others as a legalistic frame of mind about the rights and wrongs of conduct. Away in Corinth and Rome there were Christians quarrelling and standing aloof from one another over unimportant matters of judgment, allowing barriers to arise between them over foolish trivialities. Why? Because instead of receiving one another as Christ received them - in grace - they were criticizing one another's judgment and understanding of the truth. There is always division and a breakdown of brotherly love when relationships are brought on to a legal basis.
The Lord may have so dealt with us that we cannot do certain things which other servants of God practice. Let us not, indeed, compromise, or sacrifice our revelation of God's will, but at the same time we must not despise these others, nor have a separateness of spirit towards them. Spiritual progress is always attended by this temptation to judge others. Those who approximate most closely to God's will are most conscious of faultiness. If, however, progress is to be genuine it must be in the love of God, and the subtle tendency to become legal-minded must be resisted and overcome.
Legality Hinders Faith
Faith can only triumph where grace reigns. Surely if the law governed there would be no future for such men who had rejected God's warning, and steered their own course. There would be no place for faith. Paul might justly have said, "All hope and expectations are gone. It is useless to trust or pray. We shall sink here as we deserve, for we have disobeyed the Lord." He might have, but he did not. Instead, having impressed upon them how wrong and foolish they had been, he exhorted them to be of good cheer; for grace, thank God, is greater than all our folly and sin. Faith, then, can be strong. Paul is bold to believe that all will be saved according to the Lord's promise.
Faith is impossible without grace. If God's blessing is made to follow logically upon our observance of rules of procedure, any failure on our part suspends all further expectation from Him. How can faith persist and triumph, when God's way has been missed, if there is no confidence in the abounding grace of the Lord? The Devil will invariably point out our faults and failures, sometimes bringing back to remembrance mistakes of years ago, in order to challenge and wither our faith. It is important for us to recognise our faults, and to learn from our mistakes, but we must not let them be the ruling factor. Grace reigns! Doubtless Paul profited from his mistakes. Certainly the centurion learned his lesson. But that was not all. They might still have been dejected and hopeless men, but for the Lord's appearance in grace, bidding them rejoice and have faith. We too may feel dejected about ourselves or about others, and give ourselves to grieving over failure, spiritual dullness and unworthiness; but rather let us be of good cheer, and believe God!
Legality Hinders the Divine Purpose
So far we have spoken only of the human side, but there is a Divine aspect to the matter. Paul's arrival at Rome was not merely for his own blessing; it represented a goal of God's purpose. He had been chosen as an instrument for the fulfillment of God's will, but had that depended upon a relationship based legally upon rights and wrongs, that will was doomed to failure from the start. After Paul's doubtful conduct in going up to Jerusalem, and his still more doubtful behavior there, the Lord twice appeared to His servant, encouraging him with the assurance that, though the way might be strange, the end was sure: "Thou must stand before Caesar." What is true of this event in the apostle's life is also true in the great end of all Divine purpose. The grace of God provides for the realisation of God's full intention for His people, in spite of their unworthiness. Therein lies the supreme importance of abiding in grace. Satan knows that, while the people of God are found on the ground of legality, there is an arrest of the Divine purpose. If, then, he finds a zeal for God among them, he will seek to nullify it by introducing legality among them, thus causing them to set up barriers as to what must be and what must not; to regard the things of God from the viewpoint of earthly order and procedure, or to concentrate on the weaknesses or faultiness of one another. If he succeeds in this there is no good cheer, and there is no going on unto the fullness of Christ.
A glorious goal is set before the people of God. Legally they have neither the right nor the ability to attain it; but grace beckons them on, and cries triumphantly above the noise of the storm, "Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me." The full promise of God shall find fulfillment in a people who maintain their life in the realm where grace reigns.
Antichrist.... but not as we've known it - Lynette Woods
....Our Knowledge is Antichrist
We are so used to having Self and our life in place of Christ and His Life that we automatically rely upon ourselves and our own knowledge; even good, Biblical, spiritual knowledge. Our knowledge and reasoning and judgments can again be mere substitutes which take the place of the full knowledge of Christ. He does not want us just to know things about Him, but to truly KNOW Him intimately and we cannot begin to know Him until we understand that in and from ourselves we know nothing! We might be very sure that we are right and that we know something; but if that something has not come to us personally through Christ and our experience in intimate relationship with Him, then that knowledge may simply be from our flesh and therefore highly suspect.
Our enemy is so deceitful that he will not hesitate to use truth as well as lies to accomplish his purpose of bringing bondage and death. Using truth is far more deceptive to both us and others because we may see only the truth which we already know and in seeing only that, we lose sight of He Who is Truth personified! Truth given as a law brings death. The Truth will only live and bring Life when it is given IN the Life and IN the Way - Christ. He is Love and His Truth will always bring Life and Liberty. When Truth is shared and received in His time and in His Way then it is Life. The three must go together, the Truth, Life and Way of Christ Who is Love. We are truly dumb, blind and deaf except for when Jesus touches us and heals us and causes us to see, speak and hear from His heavenly perspective, and then all that knowledge is of Him, from Him, and for Him!....
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
SERPENT TO DRAGON - by Tina McCoy
SERPENT TO DRAGON - by Tina McCoy
Like most tails or gossip, they start out as a serpent or snake, as they are added to they become bigger and bigger, as this is their growth pattern. From the book of Gen. we have this snake or serpent,(lie/deception) but as we continue to read scripture we notice, it has reached a proportion of a leviathan, and the end result in Rev. it has become a dragon (bigger lies and deep deception).
Also the snake was on the earth and the leviathan in the water and the dragon in the air. Covers the earth we are made of and the water we drink and the air we breathe This phase starts in the thought of the individual as well. The snake comes in and as we continue to believe its lies then it grows bigger and bigger. We are left then with fear to kill it or so we become bound by it, thus it becomes a safety zone.
If the enemy stands before God and accuses us, would it not also stand before us and accuse God in retrospect? Do we not believe that what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good? Do we not believe that death has been swallowed up in victory? By death, I mean death to the erroneous thought patterns of man, death to carnality. Do we not believe that it is Gods goodness that brings forth repentance? Do we not believe that if He imputes His righteousness to us, why would He turn around and impute sin? If the law is dead, and we are crucified with Him, then there is no law but the sin of unbelief that He did a complete work on the cross and in us.
If the scriptures say that God is Good and is love, should we not believe it? To judge is to rule, and He will correct His children. If He corrects would He not just destroy the erroneous thinking and not us? Why did we not just kill the snake before it grew into a dragon? If He took the wrath that we should have taken would not the wrath on the enemy be one of love-a killing with kindness type thing? When His love is shed abroad in our heart, is not there an annihilation of the corruptible thought process? Is not there an annihilation or self destroying plague to all phases of resistance? Would not love poured out into the false teachings (wormwood) bring to the surface a just and righteous corrective teaching? Would not love poured out into the traditional false teaching of sun and moon and star worship destroy malpractice and self will? Then love poured out into human will power or seat of the beast do the same thing. Would not love poured out into traditional phases of resistance to Yeshua which is the beast or dragon, destroy devilish suggestions, unclean perversions of truth, confusion.
Lastly, if love was poured out into the air, the carnal mind beliefs that man is separated from God kill all carnality. Are these not the descriptions of the armageddon battles of our mind? Love covers a multitude of sin. Armageddon is a fortified city. Meggido means a place of victory-fruitage. Why did we not kill the serpent before it grew into a dragon? This is what is alluded to in the book of Revelation. God pours out His wrath in bowls or vials. Where did these bowls come from, and what is in them? They come from the procedure to have communion with God. Blood is what is in these bowls, the blood of the sacrifice. And why was that sacrifice made? Because God so loved the world that He gave the perfect sacrifice of His Son, that whosoever believes on this sacrifice/His Son should have eternal life. Where sin did abound His Grace did much more abound until our resistance is eliminated and we become sensitive to His leading. Love poured out annihilates all carnality.
Site Administrators comments:
This is a good paper on how the Serpent enters in and operates. It is important to recognize that all deception starts in our thoughts. It is strange how many times we fail to 'nip it in the bud' while it is in our thoughts, before it comes out of our mouths, and can grow into a full blown deception. All lies are deception.
When we make assumptions based on our ‘knowledge’ to this point; when we pass judgment on others and their walk (how God deals with them); when we gossip and talk about people behind their backs and not to their face; we are not being honest, we are not walking in love, and are only succeeding in deceiving ourselves.
We are blind if we don't think we can be deceived, that we are somehow more special than others, or have an inside track on the truth. There is no 'truth' outside and apart from the LIFE of Christ, and if we are living (acting, thinking, reasoning) by any other power (our carnal understanding, flesh) we are not walking in the Spirit. If we cannot love, (which I certainly cannot do of myself) then we need to recognize that we are dependent upon HIM to love in and through us, which crucifies our flesh all the more.
Our flesh loves to cling to its perceived 'truths' and uses them to build itself up, while at the same time using it to find fault with others. This is being religious, and we do this to our own detriment.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” 1 John 3:2.
Right now, God is preparing His Bride to receive Himself. Even now God is raising up His Manchild company. We don’t have to wait till we die to ‘see HIM.’ HE IS APPEARING TO HIS OWN, but it is in and by His Spirit. For it also written, ‘God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.’ We commune with God, spirit to spirit. It is our spirit that is reborn. We hear a lot of talk about spiritual things, but it is what we are manifesting that makes the difference. What is taking place in this hour, is the manifesting of Christ to His Own, that they in turn may manifest HIM in this world. It is no wonder that the serpent is working overtime to distract, discourage and deceive those whom the Lord of Glory is calling to come up higher. We are to ‘be as he is in this world.’ Nothing more and nothing less.
Like most tails or gossip, they start out as a serpent or snake, as they are added to they become bigger and bigger, as this is their growth pattern. From the book of Gen. we have this snake or serpent,(lie/deception) but as we continue to read scripture we notice, it has reached a proportion of a leviathan, and the end result in Rev. it has become a dragon (bigger lies and deep deception).
Also the snake was on the earth and the leviathan in the water and the dragon in the air. Covers the earth we are made of and the water we drink and the air we breathe This phase starts in the thought of the individual as well. The snake comes in and as we continue to believe its lies then it grows bigger and bigger. We are left then with fear to kill it or so we become bound by it, thus it becomes a safety zone.
If the enemy stands before God and accuses us, would it not also stand before us and accuse God in retrospect? Do we not believe that what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good? Do we not believe that death has been swallowed up in victory? By death, I mean death to the erroneous thought patterns of man, death to carnality. Do we not believe that it is Gods goodness that brings forth repentance? Do we not believe that if He imputes His righteousness to us, why would He turn around and impute sin? If the law is dead, and we are crucified with Him, then there is no law but the sin of unbelief that He did a complete work on the cross and in us.
If the scriptures say that God is Good and is love, should we not believe it? To judge is to rule, and He will correct His children. If He corrects would He not just destroy the erroneous thinking and not us? Why did we not just kill the snake before it grew into a dragon? If He took the wrath that we should have taken would not the wrath on the enemy be one of love-a killing with kindness type thing? When His love is shed abroad in our heart, is not there an annihilation of the corruptible thought process? Is not there an annihilation or self destroying plague to all phases of resistance? Would not love poured out into the false teachings (wormwood) bring to the surface a just and righteous corrective teaching? Would not love poured out into the traditional false teaching of sun and moon and star worship destroy malpractice and self will? Then love poured out into human will power or seat of the beast do the same thing. Would not love poured out into traditional phases of resistance to Yeshua which is the beast or dragon, destroy devilish suggestions, unclean perversions of truth, confusion.
Lastly, if love was poured out into the air, the carnal mind beliefs that man is separated from God kill all carnality. Are these not the descriptions of the armageddon battles of our mind? Love covers a multitude of sin. Armageddon is a fortified city. Meggido means a place of victory-fruitage. Why did we not kill the serpent before it grew into a dragon? This is what is alluded to in the book of Revelation. God pours out His wrath in bowls or vials. Where did these bowls come from, and what is in them? They come from the procedure to have communion with God. Blood is what is in these bowls, the blood of the sacrifice. And why was that sacrifice made? Because God so loved the world that He gave the perfect sacrifice of His Son, that whosoever believes on this sacrifice/His Son should have eternal life. Where sin did abound His Grace did much more abound until our resistance is eliminated and we become sensitive to His leading. Love poured out annihilates all carnality.
Site Administrators comments:
This is a good paper on how the Serpent enters in and operates. It is important to recognize that all deception starts in our thoughts. It is strange how many times we fail to 'nip it in the bud' while it is in our thoughts, before it comes out of our mouths, and can grow into a full blown deception. All lies are deception.
When we make assumptions based on our ‘knowledge’ to this point; when we pass judgment on others and their walk (how God deals with them); when we gossip and talk about people behind their backs and not to their face; we are not being honest, we are not walking in love, and are only succeeding in deceiving ourselves.
We are blind if we don't think we can be deceived, that we are somehow more special than others, or have an inside track on the truth. There is no 'truth' outside and apart from the LIFE of Christ, and if we are living (acting, thinking, reasoning) by any other power (our carnal understanding, flesh) we are not walking in the Spirit. If we cannot love, (which I certainly cannot do of myself) then we need to recognize that we are dependent upon HIM to love in and through us, which crucifies our flesh all the more.
Our flesh loves to cling to its perceived 'truths' and uses them to build itself up, while at the same time using it to find fault with others. This is being religious, and we do this to our own detriment.
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” 1 John 3:2.
Right now, God is preparing His Bride to receive Himself. Even now God is raising up His Manchild company. We don’t have to wait till we die to ‘see HIM.’ HE IS APPEARING TO HIS OWN, but it is in and by His Spirit. For it also written, ‘God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.’ We commune with God, spirit to spirit. It is our spirit that is reborn. We hear a lot of talk about spiritual things, but it is what we are manifesting that makes the difference. What is taking place in this hour, is the manifesting of Christ to His Own, that they in turn may manifest HIM in this world. It is no wonder that the serpent is working overtime to distract, discourage and deceive those whom the Lord of Glory is calling to come up higher. We are to ‘be as he is in this world.’ Nothing more and nothing less.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Religion or Christ? - Lynette Woods
Religion or Christ?
by Lynette Woods
"Don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider to God's revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God's revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I'm quite serious. While preaching "Don't steal!" are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and His law. The line from Scripture, "It's because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God," shows it's an old problem that isn't going to go away.
"Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
"What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
"Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily." (Paul - Romans 2:17-24; Galatians 2:18-20 TM)
by Lynette Woods
"Don't assume that you can lean back in the arms of your religion and take it easy, feeling smug because you're an insider to God's revelation, a connoisseur of the best things of God, informed on the latest doctrines! I have a special word of caution for you who are sure that you have it all together yourselves and, because you know God's revealed Word inside and out, feel qualified to guide others through their blind alleys and dark nights and confused emotions to God. While you are guiding others, who is going to guide you? I'm quite serious. While preaching "Don't steal!" are you going to rob people blind? Who would suspect you? The same with adultery. The same with idolatry. You can get by with almost anything if you front it with eloquent talk about God and His law. The line from Scripture, "It's because of you Jews that the outsiders are down on God," shows it's an old problem that isn't going to go away.
"Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.
"What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
"Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily." (Paul - Romans 2:17-24; Galatians 2:18-20 TM)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Faithful in the "Little" things - B. Keith Chadwell
Faithful in the "Little" things...
B. Keith Chadwell, February 19th, 2011
James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
For many years, I have been learning that; I can not even pray an effectual prayer with my understanding, unless the words are given to me by the Holy Spirit. Either in my native tongue, which is English or in the heavenly language Jesus gave me.
Here lately, I mostly pray in the heavenly language that I received from Jesus so many years ago and rarely have been given to understand, as I speak it, in faith, back in prayer.
I awake in the night and pray in the spirit. I pray often at short times, here and there, as I go about during the day. More and more I am relying less and less on my own words and thoughts, in order to pray "in accordance with His will" and not risk the danger of praying a mix of my will and His.... Over cautious? Perhaps, but I would rather be on the side of knowing that I am praying in accordance with His "PERFECT WILL", if there is a chance of error. And....for me, there is a chance of error, for I still only know in part, and there is still "flesh" to be dealt with.
1Co 14:2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
Rom 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So many down through the centuries, including me, have loved to receive from the Lord ... but, after time passes......have been less than faithful with the " little" He has given and end up; relying more and more on natural understanding. Or, perhaps worse; relying more and more on the fleshy, religious understanding of others. Thus, many times, ending up; doing our own thing and speaking our own words.
Jer 5:30-31 (LITV) An astounding and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their hands; and My people love it so. And what will you do at the end of it?
Yet, there is repentance and a way to return .....
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
If there were only one reason the church, as a whole, is so divided and still so immature, it is this; God has given everything to bring us to perfection and unity, "yet they would not hear".
Isa 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
John wrote, not once but twice; We are to rule and reign with Him on the earth. First in Revelation 1:6 and then again in Revelation 5:10:
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
What motivates us or would motivate us to more faithfully enter, boldly, into the Holy of Holies and give ourselves without reservation, or excuse or arguments to perform the duties of being a Priest unto Him, in accordance with His perfect will?
There in the Holy of Holies we, as "Priests", are to offer the sacrifice of praise and to pray in accordance with His perfect will for the Saints and to pray for whatever things the Spirit may assign to us while we are before Him, that we know nothing of with our own understanding and for which we can take no glory to ourselves.
How can we rule and reign on the earth with Him, unless we are, first, "faithfull" in the little things He gives us?
Mar 10:42-45 (CVE) But Jesus called the disciples together and said: You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.
Are we, realy, ready to follow Him, to be.... "LIKE HIM"?
Rom 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Hos 14:1 -3 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
How many testimonies have we heard of some Saint praying in the Spirit, offering the sacrifice of praise and the fruit of their lips in their heavenly language. Then, while there in the Holy of Holies, prayer intensifies. Later, God has revealed the result of those prayers, which more often is not revealed to the praying Saint subsequently. As God reveals the results of their prayers, the praying Saint sees that; "the will of God" was done on behalf of others, because of those prayers. A work needed doing, in the will and purposes of God, that may not have been known to the person praying beforehand. The praying saint, became a Priest unto God as they willingly became a servant to God and to others, as well. All without glory to themselves and usually without any recognition by others for their serivice to God.
Psa 12:1 -8 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Where is the Priests and the prophets who seek not the recognition and praises of man, but of God alone? Where are the faithful who will, continually, consistantly, lay down their lives and every remnant of their flesh. Even those who will faithfully offer their lips and their tiny tongues to Him, without any reservations?
Zep 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
Zep 3:2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Zep 3:3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
Zep 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Zep 3:5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
Zep 3:6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
Zep 3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
Zep 3:8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
Zep 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Zep 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of
my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
Zep 3:11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
Zep 3:12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
Zep 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Zep 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Zep 3:15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
Zep 3:16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Zep 3:18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Zep 3:19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
Zep 3:20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
B. Keith Chadwell, February 19th, 2011
James 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
James 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
For many years, I have been learning that; I can not even pray an effectual prayer with my understanding, unless the words are given to me by the Holy Spirit. Either in my native tongue, which is English or in the heavenly language Jesus gave me.
Here lately, I mostly pray in the heavenly language that I received from Jesus so many years ago and rarely have been given to understand, as I speak it, in faith, back in prayer.
I awake in the night and pray in the spirit. I pray often at short times, here and there, as I go about during the day. More and more I am relying less and less on my own words and thoughts, in order to pray "in accordance with His will" and not risk the danger of praying a mix of my will and His.... Over cautious? Perhaps, but I would rather be on the side of knowing that I am praying in accordance with His "PERFECT WILL", if there is a chance of error. And....for me, there is a chance of error, for I still only know in part, and there is still "flesh" to be dealt with.
1Co 14:2 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
Rom 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
So many down through the centuries, including me, have loved to receive from the Lord ... but, after time passes......have been less than faithful with the " little" He has given and end up; relying more and more on natural understanding. Or, perhaps worse; relying more and more on the fleshy, religious understanding of others. Thus, many times, ending up; doing our own thing and speaking our own words.
Jer 5:30-31 (LITV) An astounding and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their hands; and My people love it so. And what will you do at the end of it?
Yet, there is repentance and a way to return .....
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
If there were only one reason the church, as a whole, is so divided and still so immature, it is this; God has given everything to bring us to perfection and unity, "yet they would not hear".
Isa 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
John wrote, not once but twice; We are to rule and reign with Him on the earth. First in Revelation 1:6 and then again in Revelation 5:10:
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
What motivates us or would motivate us to more faithfully enter, boldly, into the Holy of Holies and give ourselves without reservation, or excuse or arguments to perform the duties of being a Priest unto Him, in accordance with His perfect will?
There in the Holy of Holies we, as "Priests", are to offer the sacrifice of praise and to pray in accordance with His perfect will for the Saints and to pray for whatever things the Spirit may assign to us while we are before Him, that we know nothing of with our own understanding and for which we can take no glory to ourselves.
How can we rule and reign on the earth with Him, unless we are, first, "faithfull" in the little things He gives us?
Mar 10:42-45 (CVE) But Jesus called the disciples together and said: You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over the people they rule. But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. And if you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave. The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.
Are we, realy, ready to follow Him, to be.... "LIKE HIM"?
Rom 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Hos 14:1 -3 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.
How many testimonies have we heard of some Saint praying in the Spirit, offering the sacrifice of praise and the fruit of their lips in their heavenly language. Then, while there in the Holy of Holies, prayer intensifies. Later, God has revealed the result of those prayers, which more often is not revealed to the praying Saint subsequently. As God reveals the results of their prayers, the praying Saint sees that; "the will of God" was done on behalf of others, because of those prayers. A work needed doing, in the will and purposes of God, that may not have been known to the person praying beforehand. The praying saint, became a Priest unto God as they willingly became a servant to God and to others, as well. All without glory to themselves and usually without any recognition by others for their serivice to God.
Psa 12:1 -8 To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Where is the Priests and the prophets who seek not the recognition and praises of man, but of God alone? Where are the faithful who will, continually, consistantly, lay down their lives and every remnant of their flesh. Even those who will faithfully offer their lips and their tiny tongues to Him, without any reservations?
Zep 3:1 Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
Zep 3:2 She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Zep 3:3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
Zep 3:4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Zep 3:5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
Zep 3:6 I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
Zep 3:7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
Zep 3:8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
Zep 3:9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.
Zep 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of
my dispersed, shall bring mine offering.
Zep 3:11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.
Zep 3:12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.
Zep 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Zep 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Zep 3:15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.
Zep 3:16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.
Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Zep 3:18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Zep 3:19 Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.
Zep 3:20 At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Assault On Fellowship - T. Austin-Sparks
The Assault on Fellowship
by T. Austin-Sparks
There are few matters which go to the heart of the Lord's testimony more than the matter of fellowship between the Lord's people... and especially where there is particular responsibility for His testimony. The drive of the enemy and all his subtle and diabolical wit, as well as his pressure and his misrepresentations, will be directed toward destroying that relationship of fellowship. He will seek somehow to divide believers and to get in between.
And if you are not careful, you will resolve all such matters into merely natural problems and say: "Well, it is incompatibility of temper! So-and-so is made this way, and the other person is made that way; you can never blend people who are so different in temperament and outlook!"
If you allow a conclusion of that kind, your testimony is gone; you may as well abandon your position in the Lord and go and scour the world for people who in everything see eye to eye. Does it mean that the Lord's work, as entrusted to two or three or more together in one place, can only continue in so far as these children of His are able at all times to get on with one another on a natural basis? The Lord help His work if that is what is required.
We have to look deeper than that. This drive on fellowships and relationships is Satanic. There may be ground - there may be human elements - but those concerned should take this attitude toward one another: The Lord's testimony is bound up with our oneness; the devil will do everything he can to destroy that... and to strike a blow, therefore, at the testimony! You and I are going to be one in the Name of the Lord and stand our ground against the enemy!
There we have something altogether different from the attempt to get on with one another on a natural basis; we have a dynamic for fellowship. We have to get on with one another in the Name of the Lord, or else the Lord's testimony is not established.
There is something much bigger than a natural or human situation to be dealt with. When we realize that back of what may truly be natural difficulties there is always something else at work... and that therefore we must keep these natural things in the place of the Cross and stand together against the enemy, we will get through. But we will never do so by spending a lot of time trying to adjust ourselves to one another... and seeing how far we can work together.
Standing shoulder to shoulder against the enemy who is assailing fellowship, we will find the way of triumphant fellowship. Come down on the natural level, and the enemy will soon make terrible havoc of the whole relationship.
Remember then that all these things which sometimes seem to be so natural are in principle deeper down, and the activity of the enemy is behind them in his seeking to circumvent that gain, that advance, that increase, that attaining unto dominion... and he must be withstood in these matters.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jan-Feb 1937, Vol 15-1
by T. Austin-Sparks
There are few matters which go to the heart of the Lord's testimony more than the matter of fellowship between the Lord's people... and especially where there is particular responsibility for His testimony. The drive of the enemy and all his subtle and diabolical wit, as well as his pressure and his misrepresentations, will be directed toward destroying that relationship of fellowship. He will seek somehow to divide believers and to get in between.
And if you are not careful, you will resolve all such matters into merely natural problems and say: "Well, it is incompatibility of temper! So-and-so is made this way, and the other person is made that way; you can never blend people who are so different in temperament and outlook!"
If you allow a conclusion of that kind, your testimony is gone; you may as well abandon your position in the Lord and go and scour the world for people who in everything see eye to eye. Does it mean that the Lord's work, as entrusted to two or three or more together in one place, can only continue in so far as these children of His are able at all times to get on with one another on a natural basis? The Lord help His work if that is what is required.
We have to look deeper than that. This drive on fellowships and relationships is Satanic. There may be ground - there may be human elements - but those concerned should take this attitude toward one another: The Lord's testimony is bound up with our oneness; the devil will do everything he can to destroy that... and to strike a blow, therefore, at the testimony! You and I are going to be one in the Name of the Lord and stand our ground against the enemy!
There we have something altogether different from the attempt to get on with one another on a natural basis; we have a dynamic for fellowship. We have to get on with one another in the Name of the Lord, or else the Lord's testimony is not established.
There is something much bigger than a natural or human situation to be dealt with. When we realize that back of what may truly be natural difficulties there is always something else at work... and that therefore we must keep these natural things in the place of the Cross and stand together against the enemy, we will get through. But we will never do so by spending a lot of time trying to adjust ourselves to one another... and seeing how far we can work together.
Standing shoulder to shoulder against the enemy who is assailing fellowship, we will find the way of triumphant fellowship. Come down on the natural level, and the enemy will soon make terrible havoc of the whole relationship.
Remember then that all these things which sometimes seem to be so natural are in principle deeper down, and the activity of the enemy is behind them in his seeking to circumvent that gain, that advance, that increase, that attaining unto dominion... and he must be withstood in these matters.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jan-Feb 1937, Vol 15-1
Another Word On Unity
The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 7
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)
The new creation is a company, it is a Body indwelt by the Holy Spirit, actuated by the Holy Spirit, actually made one by the Holy Spirit. “In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). The oneness is the oneness of the Holy Spirit. “Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), not to make it but to keep it. A new creation.
Well now, of course that is just the key that opens the door to everything when you see what new creation Life means. And with that you introduce the whole matter of the proper order, the proper regulated order of heavenly Life. Heavenly Life is according to heavenly law. It is not lawless. Each member of this body is not a law unto himself or herself. We are bound by this integrating, regulating law, that we are not allowed to be independent. Here the Holy Spirit forbids it. We are not allowed to take the law into our own hands. We are not allowed to act as individuals; the Holy Spirit will not allow it. There is a regulating order with this Life. This Life expresses itself according to its own laws, as life does in every part of the organic creation. It follows its own lines. That part of the creation follows the laws of the life which it possesses, and this is the Life of the Spirit, and you have not to organize or systematize this. Immediately you begin to do it, you bring death in. It is as fatal to try and make a New Testament church after the New Testament pattern as it is to have no pattern at all! It can be deathly to do that. The thing happens if the Life has its way. We have learned this, yet, much as we know about the truth, we are still so much governed by our own natural life, even in our spiritual activities. There is disorder and running before the Spirit. However, we are all in the school, and we are just stating the laws, the principles and the truth that here you have no need to go and organize something on a New Testament basis. It will come about if the Holy Spirit is really having His way in terms of Life.
(I highly recommend reading this entire chapter)
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 7
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)
The new creation is a company, it is a Body indwelt by the Holy Spirit, actuated by the Holy Spirit, actually made one by the Holy Spirit. “In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). The oneness is the oneness of the Holy Spirit. “Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), not to make it but to keep it. A new creation.
Well now, of course that is just the key that opens the door to everything when you see what new creation Life means. And with that you introduce the whole matter of the proper order, the proper regulated order of heavenly Life. Heavenly Life is according to heavenly law. It is not lawless. Each member of this body is not a law unto himself or herself. We are bound by this integrating, regulating law, that we are not allowed to be independent. Here the Holy Spirit forbids it. We are not allowed to take the law into our own hands. We are not allowed to act as individuals; the Holy Spirit will not allow it. There is a regulating order with this Life. This Life expresses itself according to its own laws, as life does in every part of the organic creation. It follows its own lines. That part of the creation follows the laws of the life which it possesses, and this is the Life of the Spirit, and you have not to organize or systematize this. Immediately you begin to do it, you bring death in. It is as fatal to try and make a New Testament church after the New Testament pattern as it is to have no pattern at all! It can be deathly to do that. The thing happens if the Life has its way. We have learned this, yet, much as we know about the truth, we are still so much governed by our own natural life, even in our spiritual activities. There is disorder and running before the Spirit. However, we are all in the school, and we are just stating the laws, the principles and the truth that here you have no need to go and organize something on a New Testament basis. It will come about if the Holy Spirit is really having His way in terms of Life.
(I highly recommend reading this entire chapter)
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 7
Your Words - David Demba
YOUR WORDS (that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth)
by David Demba: on Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 2:31pm
Brethren, conversation is an act of expression in which a person speaks what he/she have in the climax of his/her mind. A person speaks when he/she is in a calm (patience condition) situation or in a rage (wrath, angry) condition. The conclusion to these conditions is a question. What manner of words are speaking? Are you speaking in Christ JESUS? The words you spoke, are they worthy before the sight of God? The answer to all these questions will base on who you are before the Omnipresent of God.
As is written “And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shall without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering” (Judges 11:30-31). Here is a man who was to lead an army of God to war, but brought a snare to himself not to the rest of the children of Israel. He thought that by making a vow to the LORD will result to their victory by subduing the enemies. He was not trouble before the battle front, but on his return to his own house. Brethren let live by encouraging ourselves unto the LORD our God, as David in the scripture did, as is written “David encourage himself in the LORD his God” (1 samuel 30:6). For JESUS Himself in Matthew told us to “swear not at all.” A vow or an oath made, can lead to personal regret (sorry); as Herod did before his lords and captains on his birthday. Friends, because you know not what will come thereafter, for what that vow or that oath you are making can be contrary to what you want to see or hear. Therefore speak by living in accordance with the Word of the LORD, in which you speak by acknowledging God, as is written “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
The words which had proceeded from thy mouth is as when a cup of water, when pour upon a sandy soil and cannot be restore to the cup again. So are your words before God. As is written, “And it came to pass, when he (Jephthah) saw her (the daughter), that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! Thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have open my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast open thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth;..” (Judges 11:35-36). We saw Jephthah’s vow became very awful to himself not to the other soldiers who came home with him from the battle. The words you speak in all manner of conversation avail much before God, and cannot be retrieved again, but must have a result either good or evil.
Our Christian journey is to walk with integrity of Righteousness in all aspects of our lives. As we speak before God and man, let’s know that the conclusion of the words that you spoke is “for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.” This is an Integrity all Christians should live with, because we speak by the acknowledgement of the Holy Ghost, which is of God.
Brethren, nothing can take you by surprise if you speak in the Fear of God, because you live to please Him in all things, and He will defend and bring to fulfillment whatsoever you have spoken before Him and man.
In the books of the scripture, as it is written “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:19-20) also as it is written “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my words;… And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:1 and 24). We see how these prophets of God spoke words, but never been so trouble with what they have spoken because God stood in the stead of their words and accomplished whatsoever they have spoken. True and Righteous are the judgment of God, so if you wholly live for Him as these two prophets did, He will be a blessing to them that bless you, and curse him that curse you. Positivity shall be your words that you speak in your home, school, work place etc, because God will be the solidity of your words.
We see in ( Ehpesians 6:17) as it is written, “..the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” The rest of the armour of the LORD are significance for defend purposes, but the sword can be both involve in both defend and offence purposes. Brethren the LORD had called you not be only defensive Christian, but also an offensive child of God. Whereby in (Isaiah 49:2) as it is written “He had made my mouth like a sharp sword”, should be a firm and rigid thing in our personal lives, therein whatsoever we speak before men, will pierce their hearts and touch their souls. Also it will lead them to bring the fruits of repentance unto the LORD, because you delighted in the Truth.
Brethren the judgment of God awaits all generations that ever lived and will live upon the earth. As it is written “..For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:34 and 36-37). JESUS, who is the Judge of all creation, spoke about your condemnation and justification through your words. Therefore be very mindful of whatsoever you ought to speak before all human beings (small and great) you will ever meet or in situations you encounter, lest your own very words will bring an Eternal condemnation to your soul. Justification is the will of God for all humans, but a question comes ‘are you living in the fear of God?’ For the His Fear in your spiritual bowels will lead you in a life (character) in which you will always please and do that which is right His sight; in your thoughts, words and in deeds.
The LORD JESUS told us that “the prince of this world cometh and found nothing in me.” In JESUS we have access to the Father by the Spirit and in Him our lives consist. Therefore lets live in the testimony of His Name written upon our foreheads as we mingle with our fellow men. Desire to be “fill with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Friends this will come to pass in lives, if only you live in holy conversation. For it is written “But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16), also it is written “..what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). Don’t belittle anything you ought to do or speak, for little is much when God is in it. Let your worship before the LORD be in the beauty of Holiness, whereby you involve Him in all your individual affairs, for He is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscience.
Live by the innocency of Righteousness, and allow no inequity be found in you, neither any bitterness of heart towards your fellow men. Our Christian lives is to look unto JESUS who is the author and finisher of our faith, for without Him we can do nothing. Also it is written (Revelation 14:5 )“in their mouth was found no guile,” so are we to be on this earth; having our lives manifesting the light and glory of Christ JESUS wheresoever we are in this world.
by David Demba: on Saturday, February 19, 2011 at 2:31pm
Brethren, conversation is an act of expression in which a person speaks what he/she have in the climax of his/her mind. A person speaks when he/she is in a calm (patience condition) situation or in a rage (wrath, angry) condition. The conclusion to these conditions is a question. What manner of words are speaking? Are you speaking in Christ JESUS? The words you spoke, are they worthy before the sight of God? The answer to all these questions will base on who you are before the Omnipresent of God.
As is written “And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shall without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering” (Judges 11:30-31). Here is a man who was to lead an army of God to war, but brought a snare to himself not to the rest of the children of Israel. He thought that by making a vow to the LORD will result to their victory by subduing the enemies. He was not trouble before the battle front, but on his return to his own house. Brethren let live by encouraging ourselves unto the LORD our God, as David in the scripture did, as is written “David encourage himself in the LORD his God” (1 samuel 30:6). For JESUS Himself in Matthew told us to “swear not at all.” A vow or an oath made, can lead to personal regret (sorry); as Herod did before his lords and captains on his birthday. Friends, because you know not what will come thereafter, for what that vow or that oath you are making can be contrary to what you want to see or hear. Therefore speak by living in accordance with the Word of the LORD, in which you speak by acknowledging God, as is written “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
The words which had proceeded from thy mouth is as when a cup of water, when pour upon a sandy soil and cannot be restore to the cup again. So are your words before God. As is written, “And it came to pass, when he (Jephthah) saw her (the daughter), that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! Thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have open my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast open thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth;..” (Judges 11:35-36). We saw Jephthah’s vow became very awful to himself not to the other soldiers who came home with him from the battle. The words you speak in all manner of conversation avail much before God, and cannot be retrieved again, but must have a result either good or evil.
Our Christian journey is to walk with integrity of Righteousness in all aspects of our lives. As we speak before God and man, let’s know that the conclusion of the words that you spoke is “for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.” This is an Integrity all Christians should live with, because we speak by the acknowledgement of the Holy Ghost, which is of God.
Brethren, nothing can take you by surprise if you speak in the Fear of God, because you live to please Him in all things, and He will defend and bring to fulfillment whatsoever you have spoken before Him and man.
In the books of the scripture, as it is written “And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD” (1 Samuel 3:19-20) also as it is written “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my words;… And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth” (1 Kings 17:1 and 24). We see how these prophets of God spoke words, but never been so trouble with what they have spoken because God stood in the stead of their words and accomplished whatsoever they have spoken. True and Righteous are the judgment of God, so if you wholly live for Him as these two prophets did, He will be a blessing to them that bless you, and curse him that curse you. Positivity shall be your words that you speak in your home, school, work place etc, because God will be the solidity of your words.
We see in ( Ehpesians 6:17) as it is written, “..the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” The rest of the armour of the LORD are significance for defend purposes, but the sword can be both involve in both defend and offence purposes. Brethren the LORD had called you not be only defensive Christian, but also an offensive child of God. Whereby in (Isaiah 49:2) as it is written “He had made my mouth like a sharp sword”, should be a firm and rigid thing in our personal lives, therein whatsoever we speak before men, will pierce their hearts and touch their souls. Also it will lead them to bring the fruits of repentance unto the LORD, because you delighted in the Truth.
Brethren the judgment of God awaits all generations that ever lived and will live upon the earth. As it is written “..For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:34 and 36-37). JESUS, who is the Judge of all creation, spoke about your condemnation and justification through your words. Therefore be very mindful of whatsoever you ought to speak before all human beings (small and great) you will ever meet or in situations you encounter, lest your own very words will bring an Eternal condemnation to your soul. Justification is the will of God for all humans, but a question comes ‘are you living in the fear of God?’ For the His Fear in your spiritual bowels will lead you in a life (character) in which you will always please and do that which is right His sight; in your thoughts, words and in deeds.
The LORD JESUS told us that “the prince of this world cometh and found nothing in me.” In JESUS we have access to the Father by the Spirit and in Him our lives consist. Therefore lets live in the testimony of His Name written upon our foreheads as we mingle with our fellow men. Desire to be “fill with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” Friends this will come to pass in lives, if only you live in holy conversation. For it is written “But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16), also it is written “..what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11). Don’t belittle anything you ought to do or speak, for little is much when God is in it. Let your worship before the LORD be in the beauty of Holiness, whereby you involve Him in all your individual affairs, for He is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscience.
Live by the innocency of Righteousness, and allow no inequity be found in you, neither any bitterness of heart towards your fellow men. Our Christian lives is to look unto JESUS who is the author and finisher of our faith, for without Him we can do nothing. Also it is written (Revelation 14:5 )“in their mouth was found no guile,” so are we to be on this earth; having our lives manifesting the light and glory of Christ JESUS wheresoever we are in this world.
The Peace of the LORD be with you.
By DAVID DEMBA
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Unity Not Based On Spiritual Knowledge But Righteousness – James Jarjou
Unity Not Based On Spiritual Knowledge But Righteousness – James Jarjou
The two things I am finding it difficult concerning my relationship with the Body of Christ are; I find it difficult to agree with others and equally find it difficult to disagree with others. I do not limit the definition of truth or error by just what I know, but what the LORD has spoken about it, mostly through quickening of the Scriptures by the Spirit. I know perfectly well there may be error I do not know about and there are equally many truths I do not know about. But thank God we have a God who knows all things.
There are many Truths I will never know about all over eternity and it is possible that there are many mysteries of iniquity concerning the fall I might know throughout eternity. Now some might be surprised with this statement, but let me make it clear in the Light of the scriptures that the knowledge of God is infinite and the riches of Christ are unsearchable. If you believe in the statement of this scripture, you will be right if you agree with me. When the LORD helped me see that even the saints in paradise do not know all about HIM and can never know all about HIM through all eternity, it left me awed and amazed of such a mighty God. That is why our growing into Christ is based on HIS image, not knowledge. We can understand many mysteries and one day fall like Lucifer. When I see a world of wickedness and hear new news about the increase in wickedness, I am always sick; sometimes discouraged; but a voice spoke within and said, "I know all this and see all this. Your responsibility is to walk with me, you do not have that energy in you to solve all the problems in the world. You can only do your part as you work with me, but you cannot do anything if you do not walk with me. Be still and first expose your heart by my searching Light, to receive more of my Life, and I will occasionally send you to help others come out from their own blindness. Many have fallen because they want to be solvers without, out of their own strength and natural understanding, but not solvers within their own wicked hearts.
They are quick to call and judge evil without but slow to see it within themselves. Call and judge evil because I send you, then you will not exhaust yourself. Anything more than this will lead to your own fall. Now if all of us are not in the same level of maturity and not seeing the same thing’s at the same time , then we must know that we cannot avoid differences. Our unity is not based on knowledge concerning what God can do or will do in some ages to come but must be based on righteousness and holiness. I do not believe God will judge me based on knowledge, but He will judge me based on HOW much of HIS life is in me.
He said he will reject many on the last day though they have a great knowledge and power from him, to do wonderful works and perhaps understand mysteries, but one thing will disqualify them: because they work iniquity. Saints of God, let us be patient with one another knowing that we will not see the same things, for even knowledge shall fade away when that which is perfect is come, but let us hate the evil and love the good and do it through HIS mighty strength. Those of you who have seen and heard something we do not yet hear, please be patient of our misunderstanding. Peter rebuked the LORD because he told him He was to die at the cross, but the LORD was patient with HIM knowing that the mystery was not yet revealed to him. Some of us will see this facet of truth or mysteries, the other another, but it is the same God in all.
The two things I am finding it difficult concerning my relationship with the Body of Christ are; I find it difficult to agree with others and equally find it difficult to disagree with others. I do not limit the definition of truth or error by just what I know, but what the LORD has spoken about it, mostly through quickening of the Scriptures by the Spirit. I know perfectly well there may be error I do not know about and there are equally many truths I do not know about. But thank God we have a God who knows all things.
There are many Truths I will never know about all over eternity and it is possible that there are many mysteries of iniquity concerning the fall I might know throughout eternity. Now some might be surprised with this statement, but let me make it clear in the Light of the scriptures that the knowledge of God is infinite and the riches of Christ are unsearchable. If you believe in the statement of this scripture, you will be right if you agree with me. When the LORD helped me see that even the saints in paradise do not know all about HIM and can never know all about HIM through all eternity, it left me awed and amazed of such a mighty God. That is why our growing into Christ is based on HIS image, not knowledge. We can understand many mysteries and one day fall like Lucifer. When I see a world of wickedness and hear new news about the increase in wickedness, I am always sick; sometimes discouraged; but a voice spoke within and said, "I know all this and see all this. Your responsibility is to walk with me, you do not have that energy in you to solve all the problems in the world. You can only do your part as you work with me, but you cannot do anything if you do not walk with me. Be still and first expose your heart by my searching Light, to receive more of my Life, and I will occasionally send you to help others come out from their own blindness. Many have fallen because they want to be solvers without, out of their own strength and natural understanding, but not solvers within their own wicked hearts.
They are quick to call and judge evil without but slow to see it within themselves. Call and judge evil because I send you, then you will not exhaust yourself. Anything more than this will lead to your own fall. Now if all of us are not in the same level of maturity and not seeing the same thing’s at the same time , then we must know that we cannot avoid differences. Our unity is not based on knowledge concerning what God can do or will do in some ages to come but must be based on righteousness and holiness. I do not believe God will judge me based on knowledge, but He will judge me based on HOW much of HIS life is in me.
He said he will reject many on the last day though they have a great knowledge and power from him, to do wonderful works and perhaps understand mysteries, but one thing will disqualify them: because they work iniquity. Saints of God, let us be patient with one another knowing that we will not see the same things, for even knowledge shall fade away when that which is perfect is come, but let us hate the evil and love the good and do it through HIS mighty strength. Those of you who have seen and heard something we do not yet hear, please be patient of our misunderstanding. Peter rebuked the LORD because he told him He was to die at the cross, but the LORD was patient with HIM knowing that the mystery was not yet revealed to him. Some of us will see this facet of truth or mysteries, the other another, but it is the same God in all.
THE POWER TO OBEY - A. Brother
THE POWER TO OBEY
A. Brother
There is a power shortage among us. In this critical hour we need God’s power more than ever, and in increasing measure. So many are hungry for more, thirsty for revelation, anxious to know the Lord in some way that will bring reality, His reality, His Kingdom, into their lives with impact.
Here Paul lays out his desires for us. Here is his prayer for the Ephesians.
Paul says to us through this prayer that we are part of a family, one that encompasses heaven and earth. He prays for power to come into us through the Spirit of God, giving us strength and the ability to have faith.
You see, we don’t even have the ability to have faith without the power of the Spirit of God doing it within us.
LOVE. This is the mark of God’s Spirit within us. This is the aim of God in Christ, that we would grasp and know and be filled with His love. This love that together we learn with all the saints. This love that establishes us, roots us, and enables us through the Spirit of God to stand in fullness of faith and hope every day.
So we have learned that God the Father empowers us by His Spirit within us to have faith, to have love, and to be filled with His fullness in Christ. Nothing comes from self-effort. This is a gift, a treasure we receive only by faith, and that faith even comes from the hand of the One who loves us.
So many of us have learned religious striving. This sad, hard road of never believing we are worthy of getting power to live joyous, obedient lives in Christ. Can you feel this pain? I can, having pursued without profit for many years these spiritual goals, which I could no more attain than to launch myself to the moon while sitting in my car.
It is not our power, it is Christ’s power in us. He lives now, and we are dead. Dead to sin and alive to righteousness.
This working of power is to bring about the life of Christ in us, which is the greatest miracle in the universe. Far greater than we imagine. Far greater a miracle than those we ask for on a daily basis in our feeble prayers for God to rescue us and help us at every turn.
He has miracles waiting, but they are not the kind we often seek. They are the inner miracles, the quiet, powerful kind, which make selfish, hardened, sad, lonely, hurting people into loving, kind, strong, faithful, servants of Christ in a sinful world.
This is His power at work within us.
This is glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus.
This is God’s purpose, which shows His power to every ruler and authority in the heavens.
This is the strength and the power to obey Christ, and it comes only from Him.
Today, may we leave our own attempts to live the “Christian life” and let Christ live His life within us, by His power, by His efforts, and turn us into obedient, loving, power-filled servants, filled to fullness with Himself.
A. Brother
There is a power shortage among us. In this critical hour we need God’s power more than ever, and in increasing measure. So many are hungry for more, thirsty for revelation, anxious to know the Lord in some way that will bring reality, His reality, His Kingdom, into their lives with impact.
Here Paul lays out his desires for us. Here is his prayer for the Ephesians.
“For this reason I kneel before the Father,
from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth
derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches
He may strengthen you with power
through His Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Eph. 4:14-16
Paul says to us through this prayer that we are part of a family, one that encompasses heaven and earth. He prays for power to come into us through the Spirit of God, giving us strength and the ability to have faith.
You see, we don’t even have the ability to have faith without the power of the Spirit of God doing it within us.
"...apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5
It is Christ in us who does it all.“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power together with all the saints
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—
that you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God.” Eph. 4:17-19
LOVE. This is the mark of God’s Spirit within us. This is the aim of God in Christ, that we would grasp and know and be filled with His love. This love that together we learn with all the saints. This love that establishes us, roots us, and enables us through the Spirit of God to stand in fullness of faith and hope every day.
So we have learned that God the Father empowers us by His Spirit within us to have faith, to have love, and to be filled with His fullness in Christ. Nothing comes from self-effort. This is a gift, a treasure we receive only by faith, and that faith even comes from the hand of the One who loves us.
So many of us have learned religious striving. This sad, hard road of never believing we are worthy of getting power to live joyous, obedient lives in Christ. Can you feel this pain? I can, having pursued without profit for many years these spiritual goals, which I could no more attain than to launch myself to the moon while sitting in my car.
It is not our power, it is Christ’s power in us. He lives now, and we are dead. Dead to sin and alive to righteousness.
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more
than we ask or imagine,
ACCORDING TO HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITHIN US,
to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Eph. 4:20,21
This working of power is to bring about the life of Christ in us, which is the greatest miracle in the universe. Far greater than we imagine. Far greater a miracle than those we ask for on a daily basis in our feeble prayers for God to rescue us and help us at every turn.
He has miracles waiting, but they are not the kind we often seek. They are the inner miracles, the quiet, powerful kind, which make selfish, hardened, sad, lonely, hurting people into loving, kind, strong, faithful, servants of Christ in a sinful world.
This is His power at work within us.
This is glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus.
This is God’s purpose, which shows His power to every ruler and authority in the heavens.
This is the strength and the power to obey Christ, and it comes only from Him.
Today, may we leave our own attempts to live the “Christian life” and let Christ live His life within us, by His power, by His efforts, and turn us into obedient, loving, power-filled servants, filled to fullness with Himself.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
PREPARATION FOR THE TRIBULATION - James Jarjou
PREPARATION FOR THE TRIBULATION
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men” Revelation 18:11-13.
With all our difference and opinion or measure of Light it is still possible that we are seeing things dimly, but let us know that the greatest battle Satan has against the children of God is not the destruction of the body but the soul. Many believers seem to fear a future "Antichrist" who will torment the body… more than the present Antichrist within our sinful nature, who is ever present to destroy the soul. I strongly believe we have already entered the greatest affliction prophecies by Daniel, which war is not the destruction of the body, but the soul. Attaining stillness and perfect rest through union with Christ is almost impossible now a days, because of the many distractions and rat race we face here and there. To every evil, scientist have a way to prove to us that the whole situation is natural , and many believers are accepting and remaining indifferent to the spirit of the world, because of the tremendous increase in the knowledge of the wisdom of men. This temptation to take things in the natural realm and forgetting our heavenly citizenship, where our daily order should be taken, is the greatest tribulation. Nothing is worse than that. The Lord may allow Satan to destroy our body, but it is never His will that Satan will have even a little portion of our soul. Today is the time of preparation. The battle is today. The great tribulation today… Is about the soul.
This is the time of intercession. Every Godly parent should daily spend time to intercede for their Children. How is it that so many Godly parents has ungodly children? Is it not true that a majority do not spend the time to intercede for their children on a daily basis. The LORD asked us to pray that His kingdom will come on earth, that includes in our family and children; which kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the only means to bring the impossibility into reality, and not many Christian families are seeing this. They measure things in the natural realm and think their children are beyond repair. Satan’s primary aim is to destroy the youth of our generation, but the riches in Christ is always there to destroy his purpose when the saints intercede. It is time to intercede for our neighbors, towns, villages, countries, continent etc. Christ is our only weapon but when we do not use our weapon the enemy will win a lot and the promises are locked.
I am not denying that we will see many things in the natural like pain , hunger, earthquakes, war, etc., but that is mostly the body realm, the natural and a type of the inward spiritual battle.
Amen
James Jarjou
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men” Revelation 18:11-13.
With all our difference and opinion or measure of Light it is still possible that we are seeing things dimly, but let us know that the greatest battle Satan has against the children of God is not the destruction of the body but the soul. Many believers seem to fear a future "Antichrist" who will torment the body… more than the present Antichrist within our sinful nature, who is ever present to destroy the soul. I strongly believe we have already entered the greatest affliction prophecies by Daniel, which war is not the destruction of the body, but the soul. Attaining stillness and perfect rest through union with Christ is almost impossible now a days, because of the many distractions and rat race we face here and there. To every evil, scientist have a way to prove to us that the whole situation is natural , and many believers are accepting and remaining indifferent to the spirit of the world, because of the tremendous increase in the knowledge of the wisdom of men. This temptation to take things in the natural realm and forgetting our heavenly citizenship, where our daily order should be taken, is the greatest tribulation. Nothing is worse than that. The Lord may allow Satan to destroy our body, but it is never His will that Satan will have even a little portion of our soul. Today is the time of preparation. The battle is today. The great tribulation today… Is about the soul.
This is the time of intercession. Every Godly parent should daily spend time to intercede for their Children. How is it that so many Godly parents has ungodly children? Is it not true that a majority do not spend the time to intercede for their children on a daily basis. The LORD asked us to pray that His kingdom will come on earth, that includes in our family and children; which kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the only means to bring the impossibility into reality, and not many Christian families are seeing this. They measure things in the natural realm and think their children are beyond repair. Satan’s primary aim is to destroy the youth of our generation, but the riches in Christ is always there to destroy his purpose when the saints intercede. It is time to intercede for our neighbors, towns, villages, countries, continent etc. Christ is our only weapon but when we do not use our weapon the enemy will win a lot and the promises are locked.
I am not denying that we will see many things in the natural like pain , hunger, earthquakes, war, etc., but that is mostly the body realm, the natural and a type of the inward spiritual battle.
Amen
James Jarjou
Sunday, February 13, 2011
What Are We Glorying In?
What Are We Glorying In?
The religious spirit is so widespread, in everything we have ever known, that coming out and being set free from it does not happen by getting our doctrines straight, or aligning ourselves with the ‘right’ group, or even going off by ourselves. Freedom comes as we let it all go and seek the Lord above all else. Most of the time, we never actually get to the place of seeking God first and foremost. We talk about it a lot, but somehow we cannot get beyond rearranging our religious theories, thinking by doing so we are making progress. For all of our claims, what we still see in action are little groups on the playground, throwing stones at one another.
I think it is safe to say, that there are very few who have even considered that the Kingdom of God is in our relationships. We can't see this when we are so focused on playing defense, protecting our little corner on the playground, we don't have any grasp of the big picture. We are blinded to God's perspective.
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” 1 Corinthians 3:19.
Do we read this verse, and project the ‘wisdom of the world’ as being outside of the scope of the believer’s experience? Do we somehow attribute it as being all that goes on outside of the Church? Do we not yet comprehend… that this wisdom is our carnal thoughts and judgments regarding everything, be it spiritual in scope or simply the daily choices we make regarding all that we say and do in course of our daily activities? Do we still think in terms of ‘them’ versus ‘us’? If we do, then we are deceiving ourselves. Being fluent in religious sounding rhetoric and quoting scripture may give the appearance of being one knowledgeable in spiritual things. What matters are not so much the words, as the Spirit behind the words.
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” Revelation 3:17. This is the religious mindset. This is the believer who sees themselves in terms of ‘I’m right and your wrong.’ From this vantage point, there is only judgment and a critical spirit of all who are not in compliance and total agreement with their point of view. They talk the talk, but their walk exposes them as pretenders. The religious spirit calls vicious attacks… ‘love,’ when in reality they are driven to try and control and manipulate others according to their perceived superior knowledge and experience.
“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of…”
Sadly, persecution of Christians across the internet is alive and well. These attacks are not from non-believers… no, the most vehement attacks come from those who call themselves born-again and spirit-filled. They are convinced that they have a corner on the Truth, and all who hold a different or opposing view are… well to put it bluntly… are just plain wrong! It quickly becomes obvious that the honor of God is not the issue, the uppermost thing is being ‘right,’ winning the argument, beating the other guy into submission to their point of view. Right from its inception, Christ’s Gospel has always been a divider. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” Matthew 10:34. All too often, we prematurely pick up weapons, without having learned how to use them properly. Always remember, everything that is not the Spirit of God, is the flesh… or worse, demonic. The purpose of the sword is not as we might naturally assume, to be used against our enemies. Long before we can wield it as a weapon of defense or attack, it is must be administered to cut-away all that is unclean... within US…
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12.
To quote a sister in the Lord:
“I am enclosing an article from Austin Sparks. This is good for ears to hear. One thing is necessary, and that is Christ in me is what has to be, all other things are trappings. We put too much emphasis on words that we read, learn, or hear, than we do on the inward hidden work. That hidden work is what comes forth as we walk and move. How do we treat others truly? and how do we really act toward others? As Jesus would? I wonder, and the Lord has shown me many are serving a different Jesus. They have no idea how Jesus would act or react, because they are so sure of their Jesus, because they look so good. As we move in the Lord we look less and less good according to the religious out look of good. Thank God for that. It is one sure sign when we are not talking pious and super religious and begin to look, as I call it “rustic.”
Previously posted: Glorying In The Lord by T. Austin-Sparks
Sadly, religious spirits are alive and well, in fact flourishing today, while the Holy Spirit is being denied control of hearts and minds. Although the Spirit is much discussed, and widely claimed, few are willing to relinquish control of their lives to Him. Few are willing to suffer injustices, to be ostracized and rejected. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
A recent post: The Parade by A. Brother, found on The Narrow Gate, addresses this issue as well.
Let us be very careful, and examine our own hearts on a regular basis. Let’s know what we are Glorying in, and more importantly, WHO.
“That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 1:31.
Amen,
Cathy Morris
2/13/2011
The religious spirit is so widespread, in everything we have ever known, that coming out and being set free from it does not happen by getting our doctrines straight, or aligning ourselves with the ‘right’ group, or even going off by ourselves. Freedom comes as we let it all go and seek the Lord above all else. Most of the time, we never actually get to the place of seeking God first and foremost. We talk about it a lot, but somehow we cannot get beyond rearranging our religious theories, thinking by doing so we are making progress. For all of our claims, what we still see in action are little groups on the playground, throwing stones at one another.
I think it is safe to say, that there are very few who have even considered that the Kingdom of God is in our relationships. We can't see this when we are so focused on playing defense, protecting our little corner on the playground, we don't have any grasp of the big picture. We are blinded to God's perspective.
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” 1 Corinthians 3:19.
Do we read this verse, and project the ‘wisdom of the world’ as being outside of the scope of the believer’s experience? Do we somehow attribute it as being all that goes on outside of the Church? Do we not yet comprehend… that this wisdom is our carnal thoughts and judgments regarding everything, be it spiritual in scope or simply the daily choices we make regarding all that we say and do in course of our daily activities? Do we still think in terms of ‘them’ versus ‘us’? If we do, then we are deceiving ourselves. Being fluent in religious sounding rhetoric and quoting scripture may give the appearance of being one knowledgeable in spiritual things. What matters are not so much the words, as the Spirit behind the words.
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” Revelation 3:17. This is the religious mindset. This is the believer who sees themselves in terms of ‘I’m right and your wrong.’ From this vantage point, there is only judgment and a critical spirit of all who are not in compliance and total agreement with their point of view. They talk the talk, but their walk exposes them as pretenders. The religious spirit calls vicious attacks… ‘love,’ when in reality they are driven to try and control and manipulate others according to their perceived superior knowledge and experience.
“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of…”
Sadly, persecution of Christians across the internet is alive and well. These attacks are not from non-believers… no, the most vehement attacks come from those who call themselves born-again and spirit-filled. They are convinced that they have a corner on the Truth, and all who hold a different or opposing view are… well to put it bluntly… are just plain wrong! It quickly becomes obvious that the honor of God is not the issue, the uppermost thing is being ‘right,’ winning the argument, beating the other guy into submission to their point of view. Right from its inception, Christ’s Gospel has always been a divider. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” Matthew 10:34. All too often, we prematurely pick up weapons, without having learned how to use them properly. Always remember, everything that is not the Spirit of God, is the flesh… or worse, demonic. The purpose of the sword is not as we might naturally assume, to be used against our enemies. Long before we can wield it as a weapon of defense or attack, it is must be administered to cut-away all that is unclean... within US…
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12.
To quote a sister in the Lord:
“I am enclosing an article from Austin Sparks. This is good for ears to hear. One thing is necessary, and that is Christ in me is what has to be, all other things are trappings. We put too much emphasis on words that we read, learn, or hear, than we do on the inward hidden work. That hidden work is what comes forth as we walk and move. How do we treat others truly? and how do we really act toward others? As Jesus would? I wonder, and the Lord has shown me many are serving a different Jesus. They have no idea how Jesus would act or react, because they are so sure of their Jesus, because they look so good. As we move in the Lord we look less and less good according to the religious out look of good. Thank God for that. It is one sure sign when we are not talking pious and super religious and begin to look, as I call it “rustic.”
Previously posted: Glorying In The Lord by T. Austin-Sparks
Sadly, religious spirits are alive and well, in fact flourishing today, while the Holy Spirit is being denied control of hearts and minds. Although the Spirit is much discussed, and widely claimed, few are willing to relinquish control of their lives to Him. Few are willing to suffer injustices, to be ostracized and rejected. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
A recent post: The Parade by A. Brother, found on The Narrow Gate, addresses this issue as well.
Let us be very careful, and examine our own hearts on a regular basis. Let’s know what we are Glorying in, and more importantly, WHO.
“That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 1:31.
Amen,
Cathy Morris
2/13/2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
THE ROAD TO CANAAN - James Jarjou
THE ROAD TO CANAAN
To live a victorious and overcoming Christian Life daily, amidst all the occasional Storms, dryness, temptations etc an ever increasing practical knowledge of Knowing God , His power, HIS Saving Strength is something you must seek or you will lose your way and be carried away by the storms daily.
To know God is to see HIM first: as above all, and in all, and this includes seeing HIM within you as a helper through HIS Spirit within. Failure, stumbling, shortcoming only come when the eye is fixed on what you can do, more than what HE can do in you. God never called us to Save ourselves but HE comes to save us, and this was the proclamation from the Birth, that the name JESUS means he will save His people from their Sins (Matthew 1:21).
The is the summation, and our Foundation, yet the eye of natural understanding has assumed to know and accept that Jesus has come to save him from his sins yet remain daily overcome by Sins, because JESUS, the word which dwell within the hearts of those that Look unto HIM as their daily savior from all challenges, temptations, trials is not in reality his SAVIOR. When salvation is seen as an event, then there is a relaxation and a false Liberty and endless falling and short coming because the only one, who can save the soul from sin, is forgotten. This deceived Soul does not seek an all knowing Guide or Strength from the infinite power to live above weakness but keeps walking out of its own wisdom and fighting out of its own strength.
The natural man may keep the moral Law of Moses Perfectly, but none can keep the inward Law of Christ but the man of the Cross, who has forsaken all other strength including his natural strength. It is not possible for any flesh to keep the inward Law of Christ, no never; it is impossible but only possible when God is the strength of the Soul.
To enter the spiritual land of Canaan through perfect rest and union the soul most come higher than the moral law of Moses, for that nature in Moses which does not see the evil of hitting the rock twice, when the voice said once, and spoke its own words Cannot enter Canaan. Canaan is never about what man thinks but the mind of God and there is no compromise, no shadow of turning, for it is never about what man can do but what God can do in the Soul that Believes.
The spirit of the unbelieving spies of Canaan is that nature which mixes the Strength of God with the Strength of man. After Some victories through the power of God in destroying some enemies, these spies soon forgot that it was God who was fighting for them. When they saw the Giants they measured the Giants with themselves, not with God, and so they Lose hope, for the situation was higher than their natural strength. Oh what a lamentation to some souls who have tasted a measure of the saving power of God from all external and gross sins, yet cannot trust the power of God to keep them above those hard inward giants of bitterness, lust, impatience, gossip, covetousness, hatred, unforgiveness, strife etc as they faced a hard fallen race in their daily activities.
Overcoming the enemies of Canaan was not the work of the doubting Spies, nor was it the work of faithful Joshua and Caleb, it was about what God wanted to do in yielded Vessels. It was HIS work and still remains HIS work. Likewise in the Spiritual Canaan of Perfect Union and rest in Christ it is never about that nature of the doubting spies within us, which will see just our weakness and nothing more, nor was it that nature of Joshua and Caleb, a type of overcoming Saints. So stop looking to your weakness, failure, limitation… nor admire or spend your time in exalting Joshua and Caleb (Overcoming Saints), but Come to the Eternal Power that Fills the Desire of all Living things when they are in union to HIS will. Wait for it, pray and fast occasional in humbling yourself before HIS Presence. Rush not here and there, nor strike the rock twice when you only hear it once, but wait in patience for HE will Lead you in ways and paths you know not. Again Entering Canaan is never about you, good that you have seen the enemies and the darkness you knew not before, but Look unto to the Great deliverer and you will be healed from your fears, infirmities or weakness.
What are you going through, what is your weakness or fear? Show me and I will show you the nature of the doubting spies within you. Come out of your weakness, into HIS strength, come out from unbelief into the Faith which sees the infinite power. Cease from the evil teaching of partial, illuminated fallen men who mixed the Power of Christ with the strength of man and like the doubting spies they believe in a partial victory over sins and wickedness, for when they look at the challenges, they do not see the Eternal power but their own natural strength.
Come ye oh Nations and drink this waters of my Power and strength, there is Life and Life eternal, bring your vessels for I am ever ready to fill you, sake yourself from the dust of earthiness for I am come to Save you, it is about me in you and then you in me which is perfect union, and this is the only hope of partaking in my Glory. Remember it first started with me, me in you; you cannot be in me if I am not in you. If you have an ear, hear.
Amen.
James Jarjou
To live a victorious and overcoming Christian Life daily, amidst all the occasional Storms, dryness, temptations etc an ever increasing practical knowledge of Knowing God , His power, HIS Saving Strength is something you must seek or you will lose your way and be carried away by the storms daily.
To know God is to see HIM first: as above all, and in all, and this includes seeing HIM within you as a helper through HIS Spirit within. Failure, stumbling, shortcoming only come when the eye is fixed on what you can do, more than what HE can do in you. God never called us to Save ourselves but HE comes to save us, and this was the proclamation from the Birth, that the name JESUS means he will save His people from their Sins (Matthew 1:21).
The is the summation, and our Foundation, yet the eye of natural understanding has assumed to know and accept that Jesus has come to save him from his sins yet remain daily overcome by Sins, because JESUS, the word which dwell within the hearts of those that Look unto HIM as their daily savior from all challenges, temptations, trials is not in reality his SAVIOR. When salvation is seen as an event, then there is a relaxation and a false Liberty and endless falling and short coming because the only one, who can save the soul from sin, is forgotten. This deceived Soul does not seek an all knowing Guide or Strength from the infinite power to live above weakness but keeps walking out of its own wisdom and fighting out of its own strength.
The natural man may keep the moral Law of Moses Perfectly, but none can keep the inward Law of Christ but the man of the Cross, who has forsaken all other strength including his natural strength. It is not possible for any flesh to keep the inward Law of Christ, no never; it is impossible but only possible when God is the strength of the Soul.
To enter the spiritual land of Canaan through perfect rest and union the soul most come higher than the moral law of Moses, for that nature in Moses which does not see the evil of hitting the rock twice, when the voice said once, and spoke its own words Cannot enter Canaan. Canaan is never about what man thinks but the mind of God and there is no compromise, no shadow of turning, for it is never about what man can do but what God can do in the Soul that Believes.
The spirit of the unbelieving spies of Canaan is that nature which mixes the Strength of God with the Strength of man. After Some victories through the power of God in destroying some enemies, these spies soon forgot that it was God who was fighting for them. When they saw the Giants they measured the Giants with themselves, not with God, and so they Lose hope, for the situation was higher than their natural strength. Oh what a lamentation to some souls who have tasted a measure of the saving power of God from all external and gross sins, yet cannot trust the power of God to keep them above those hard inward giants of bitterness, lust, impatience, gossip, covetousness, hatred, unforgiveness, strife etc as they faced a hard fallen race in their daily activities.
Overcoming the enemies of Canaan was not the work of the doubting Spies, nor was it the work of faithful Joshua and Caleb, it was about what God wanted to do in yielded Vessels. It was HIS work and still remains HIS work. Likewise in the Spiritual Canaan of Perfect Union and rest in Christ it is never about that nature of the doubting spies within us, which will see just our weakness and nothing more, nor was it that nature of Joshua and Caleb, a type of overcoming Saints. So stop looking to your weakness, failure, limitation… nor admire or spend your time in exalting Joshua and Caleb (Overcoming Saints), but Come to the Eternal Power that Fills the Desire of all Living things when they are in union to HIS will. Wait for it, pray and fast occasional in humbling yourself before HIS Presence. Rush not here and there, nor strike the rock twice when you only hear it once, but wait in patience for HE will Lead you in ways and paths you know not. Again Entering Canaan is never about you, good that you have seen the enemies and the darkness you knew not before, but Look unto to the Great deliverer and you will be healed from your fears, infirmities or weakness.
What are you going through, what is your weakness or fear? Show me and I will show you the nature of the doubting spies within you. Come out of your weakness, into HIS strength, come out from unbelief into the Faith which sees the infinite power. Cease from the evil teaching of partial, illuminated fallen men who mixed the Power of Christ with the strength of man and like the doubting spies they believe in a partial victory over sins and wickedness, for when they look at the challenges, they do not see the Eternal power but their own natural strength.
Come ye oh Nations and drink this waters of my Power and strength, there is Life and Life eternal, bring your vessels for I am ever ready to fill you, sake yourself from the dust of earthiness for I am come to Save you, it is about me in you and then you in me which is perfect union, and this is the only hope of partaking in my Glory. Remember it first started with me, me in you; you cannot be in me if I am not in you. If you have an ear, hear.
Amen.
James Jarjou
Sunday, February 6, 2011
A Positive Walk - T. Austin-Sparks
A Positive Walk
Now, this law of the Spirit is the principle of the walk of the Christian. The walk of the Christian is supposed to be a walk in sanctification; there must be a sanctified walk. That is what it means to walk in the Spirit. The definite statement is: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Are you struggling, striving, fighting, not to fulfil the flesh? That is negative; you will get nowhere along that line. The way not to is to do something positive. The positive is the answer to the negative. "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not...". It is a great principle of deliverance. God's way is always a positive way. We are occupied so much with the negative, striving and wrestling not to do this, to stop this and that. And we do not find that we get very far in that, do we? The provision of the Lord is: "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not...".
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Well, it means to consort with the Spirit. You say, what does that mean? It is best understood by recognizing what we do. We, by nature, consort with the flesh: we are all the time consorting with ourselves - our poor miserable selves; occupied with ourselves, talking about ourselves, praying about ourselves; keeping ourselves, our miserable selves always in front of us. When we are so continually occupied with what we are in ourselves, that is consorting with ourselves, is it not? How far do we get that way? Nowhere at all! We make no progress at all by consorting with ourselves.
And I am afraid there are some Christians who consort with the devil. It is not always easy to distinguish between ourselves and the devil, but you know he is always talking to us through ourselves. If there is something that is wrong with us, he lets us know it. If there is something that troubles us, he adds to the trouble, he accentuates. Give him a little bit of his own ground, that he himself created for himself - for he created that ground of the old fallen Adam for himself and for his own purposes, to work out his own designs - give him a little bit of that which he has made for himself, and see what he will do with it. He will make everything of it, and it will not be long before people who do that will find that they are in terrible bondage to the devil through their own selves - their own make-up and faults and weaknesses and sinfulness. And that is consorting with the devil. He comes and accuses, and you listen; he makes a suggestion, and you take it on - you almost enter into a discussion with him. You consort with him, or you consort with yourself: and that is walking after the flesh.
Don't consort with the flesh, don't consort with the devil, have no truck with them at all! Consort with the Spirit! The Spirit is the One who has come alongside: the very meaning of His Name, 'Advocate' or 'Comforter' (Gk. parakletes) is One who is called alongside. Consort with the One alongside. Have your communion with the Spirit. Challenge yourself, and challenge the enemy, on this: Is this really of the Spirit, does this correspond to the Word of God, is this true according to the gospel of grace? If the answer is: No, of course it is not! then repudiate it! That is consorting with the Spirit, always moving on the ground of grace, the Spirit of grace.
That is a very simple beginning, but it indicates that the Holy Spirit is positive. All that other is negative: it is pulling back, it is draining, dragging; it is all a big 'No'. The Spirit never comes on that ground; He is against anything like that. As in the first creation He moved against the void, so in the new creation He has nothing to do with, and no interest in, vacuums, voids, or anything that is negative. Take positive ground, and you will find the Holy Spirit is with you. Forsake your negative ground in your spiritual life.
Now, this law of the Spirit is the principle of the walk of the Christian. The walk of the Christian is supposed to be a walk in sanctification; there must be a sanctified walk. That is what it means to walk in the Spirit. The definite statement is: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Are you struggling, striving, fighting, not to fulfil the flesh? That is negative; you will get nowhere along that line. The way not to is to do something positive. The positive is the answer to the negative. "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not...". It is a great principle of deliverance. God's way is always a positive way. We are occupied so much with the negative, striving and wrestling not to do this, to stop this and that. And we do not find that we get very far in that, do we? The provision of the Lord is: "Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not...".
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Well, it means to consort with the Spirit. You say, what does that mean? It is best understood by recognizing what we do. We, by nature, consort with the flesh: we are all the time consorting with ourselves - our poor miserable selves; occupied with ourselves, talking about ourselves, praying about ourselves; keeping ourselves, our miserable selves always in front of us. When we are so continually occupied with what we are in ourselves, that is consorting with ourselves, is it not? How far do we get that way? Nowhere at all! We make no progress at all by consorting with ourselves.
And I am afraid there are some Christians who consort with the devil. It is not always easy to distinguish between ourselves and the devil, but you know he is always talking to us through ourselves. If there is something that is wrong with us, he lets us know it. If there is something that troubles us, he adds to the trouble, he accentuates. Give him a little bit of his own ground, that he himself created for himself - for he created that ground of the old fallen Adam for himself and for his own purposes, to work out his own designs - give him a little bit of that which he has made for himself, and see what he will do with it. He will make everything of it, and it will not be long before people who do that will find that they are in terrible bondage to the devil through their own selves - their own make-up and faults and weaknesses and sinfulness. And that is consorting with the devil. He comes and accuses, and you listen; he makes a suggestion, and you take it on - you almost enter into a discussion with him. You consort with him, or you consort with yourself: and that is walking after the flesh.
Don't consort with the flesh, don't consort with the devil, have no truck with them at all! Consort with the Spirit! The Spirit is the One who has come alongside: the very meaning of His Name, 'Advocate' or 'Comforter' (Gk. parakletes) is One who is called alongside. Consort with the One alongside. Have your communion with the Spirit. Challenge yourself, and challenge the enemy, on this: Is this really of the Spirit, does this correspond to the Word of God, is this true according to the gospel of grace? If the answer is: No, of course it is not! then repudiate it! That is consorting with the Spirit, always moving on the ground of grace, the Spirit of grace.
That is a very simple beginning, but it indicates that the Holy Spirit is positive. All that other is negative: it is pulling back, it is draining, dragging; it is all a big 'No'. The Spirit never comes on that ground; He is against anything like that. As in the first creation He moved against the void, so in the new creation He has nothing to do with, and no interest in, vacuums, voids, or anything that is negative. Take positive ground, and you will find the Holy Spirit is with you. Forsake your negative ground in your spiritual life.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Nice People and Good Folks - Pete
I recommend reading Nice People and Good Folks, linked in the title, found on the Truth In Scripture blog:
"Most people can readily spot an evil or mean person without much spiritual discernment. The tricky part is identifying the true motives of the many good appearing people and nice folks that claim the name of Jesus. Many of us, myself included can feel good about ourselves when we compare ourselves to the world and other men. Yet the Scriptures not men set the standard for goodness that no man can attain without the Spirit of God."
Although he shares primarily from the realm of being in Church, it is equally prevalent for those outside of Organized Religion.
"Most people can readily spot an evil or mean person without much spiritual discernment. The tricky part is identifying the true motives of the many good appearing people and nice folks that claim the name of Jesus. Many of us, myself included can feel good about ourselves when we compare ourselves to the world and other men. Yet the Scriptures not men set the standard for goodness that no man can attain without the Spirit of God."
Although he shares primarily from the realm of being in Church, it is equally prevalent for those outside of Organized Religion.
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