Dead to the flesh... Alive in the Spirit!

Those who live as their human nature [flesh] tells them to have their minds controlled by what human nature [flesh] wants. Those who live as the Spirit tells them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants. The mind of the flesh [nature] is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace ~ Romans 8:5-6.

Galatians 5:17
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.

Galatians 5:19
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit ~ 1 Peter 4:6.

As Children of Light, we must be imitators of God...

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”~ Luke 6:36-38.

But should we walk away while our brother (a member of the body of Christ) struggles with sin? "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" ~ Mark 14:38. Let's be there for each other and pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit we overcome!

Reading from Ephesians 5:8-14 ~ As Children of Light, we must be imitators of God..."For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Test and prove what pleases the Lord.

Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that is illuminated becomes a light itself. So it is said:“Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Let's be there for each other (those in the body of Christ) and pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit we overcome all sin in our life... being imitators of God!

Where is faith in Jesus Christ and His Coming?

I have read so many articles this year already that ask what is happening to the church. They don't say the 'body of Christ'. They say 'the church' and often say... 'the church in America'. The answers are always the same: the challenge of cultural issues which includes politicized sexual orientation, the trend toward globalization, and theological shallowness, skepticism, and apologetic failure.

All of which I agree with. However, they miss the foundational problem: this is a fallen world and a serious lack of faith in Jesus Christ and His Second Coming! And, in fact, most have no idea that Jesus Christ is coming back!

Just about everyone with some kind of credentials will say that Jesus came to show the way on how to lead a good life. He was a man who loved people and because of that he was led by his spirit to demonstrate the right way to live with each other.

Indeed, Jesus did demonstrate how to live in this fallen world; He said, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" ~ John 14:6. He did this to prepare for His Return.

He had to come then and has to come back! Its a battle that He and we (being born again) are engaged in... a battle against the evil one. That is why He came for the sinner. Let us not forget that he died on the cross, was buried and resurrected to get rid of the law of sin and death set in motion by Satan...

"For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh" ~ Romans 8:3. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life ~ John 3:16. He came to restore us to what we were created for and created to be.

And, there is much much more going on in the spiritual realm than most realize which does manifest in this fallen physical world. Did you know that most if not all of the Bible describes this and the battle at hand.  Sadly, Jesus Christ's Second Coming is hardly ever heard about in church today as something we need to physically and spiritually prepare for. This is what we seem to have forgotten in the post modern church 'body of Christ'.

I see people clinging to the things of this FALLEN world! They go to church but not to worship the one True God as He should be worshiped. They are going mainly to make social connections, or to ask for prayer for their ailments, financial troubles, family and or relationship issues etc. I rarely hear anyone ask for help in their relationship with Jesus Christ and how to go about improving that and how to become a solider for Christ in these end times.

Members of the body need to put on the full armor of God. They won't become a solider for Christ just by signing up for soup kitchen detail. They need to get into the Word of God, putting on the full armor of God which is the Word, the Bible...consuming it as living bread and living water and sharing that with others so they too can eat the bread of life.

Sadly, I don't hear about teachings on how to engage with others on that level let alone disciple others so that they can spread the Good News who is Jesus Christ; that He, (God the Father/Son/Holy Spirit) died for our sin, was buried and resurrected and that He is coming back to reboot the entire universe.

When He comes back, we need to be ready to recognize Him and accept His gift of eternal life. There is only one way to the Father and it is by Him. Yes, He is coming back because this is still a fallen world and its going to be rebooted. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit in us now but His Kingdom in its entirety is still to come. The Bible tells us this truth. There is more prophecy on this than there was on His first coming. The entire Bible is a guide to the reboot.

Also folks, what is happening to the church is that many in it have been given over to a reprobate 'depraved' mind. Reading from Romans 1, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. 

They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them" ~ Romans 1:18-32.

Reading Matthew 24:4-13 ~ What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered, “See to it that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. 

These things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

 

Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.

How will He come? "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So shall it be! Amen. Rev. 1:7.

Be imitators of God...as beloved children.

Reading from Ephesians 5: 1-7 BSB ~ Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God. But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of character, but rather thanksgiving.

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them.

Ephesians 5: 15-24 BSB ~ Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wives and husbands, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Indeed, wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church ~ 1 COR 14:33-35 BSB.

In Communion with the Living God...

In a world that consumes, how can we have 'holy' communion with the living God? Firstly, that holy communion is simply a relationship with Him, one to one by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ died and rose and departed for this very reason. That He by His death on the cross tore the curtain between man, the creation, and God, the Creator.

Now, we having accepted this Truth, the Good News, Jesus Christ, who lived, died was buried and resurrected so that we can be delivered from the law of sin and death, who now lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome this fallen world.

Indeed God, who knows the heart (fallen: sinful and wicked), showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us ~ Acts 15:8. And because of that, we can have 'holy' communion with the Creator through the Holy Spirit; and, in fact He wants that and He wants it every minute of the day.

Back to the question...someone might say that its difficult to not consume. After all, its a fallen world and we must consume at least food and energy daily in order to sustain the life we have. But, does not God know every hair on our head ~ Matthew 10:30. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you ~ 2 COR 9:10.

Now, that does not mean we can be gluttons, or wasters of any kind or careless in all we do. Yes, indeed all things are permissible but not all things edify. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial ~  1 COR 10:23.  

Why? Because, the Creator wants us to worship Him; and above all, to love Him first with all our heart, soul, mind and strength ~ Mark 12:30 and we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves so... I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved ~ 1 COR 10:33. 

In this way, we are in communion with the living God! Doing His Will so that His Kingdom comes in its entirety. 

I, yes I, am He who blots out transgressions ...

If you have declared that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, you cannot lose your salvation; unless you reject it. You have been made a new creation alive in Christ the Lord. He is your life guard made possible by His death on the cross and by the power of Holy Spirit dwells in you.

The Lord God sent His Son… and He will come again! As a child of God we expect that. How will He come? He will come in the clouds so that everyone can see Him… "Look, he is coming with the clouds," and "every eye will see him, even those who pierced him"; and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him." So, shall it be! Amen ~ Rev. 1:7. And like a good Father, our great and only Father in heaven would do and he will wipe away every tear…

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ~ Rev. 21:4.

"FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE..…Hebrews 8:12. 

Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.

Jeremiah 31:34
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more."

This is the Good News and it is wonderful. The Good News of peace for each and everyone  through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all ~ Acts 10:36. And such Good News we are to share, for such sharing is our great commission. Reading Mark 16:15-16 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 

Simple as that… its not by force that anyone is to believe but freely by their own choice.  Yes, A choice like all choices we make which have consequences as do all choices. There is only one way out and it is by Jesus Christ.

And for sharing, we will be rewarded. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel ~ 1 COR 9:18.

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Matthew 16:27. Come close to God, and God will come close to you ~ James 4:8.

God is our life guard… He is watching over us always … telling us when to stop swimming in deep water or where there is a riptide. He does this is out of love, His love for us His creation! You know that He loved you before you loved Him. 

Strange isn’t it that we want to rebel… saying I can swim by myself, I know how.  But that is not respecting the Father, that is denying Him. King David never rejected the Father. He knew who he was, a child of God, a creation of the Most High. He know only God in him could overcome his predicament. Woe to those who tell a child of God that there is no such life guard, no Father in Heaven…. Telling them that there predicament is their own and they better shape up and save themselves by getting with the ‘program’ of this world.

Woe to those who (righteous in their own eyes) those who frighten a child of God causing them to stumble and fall… telling them that they could lose their salvation so they better be on guard because their life guard after having declared him their life guard is waiting to drown them for their iniquity. 

You see, once you ask the life guard into your life, He never lets you drown though it may seem that way, he is always with you and will deliver you.  He died for you and you are made alive in Him.

You see, David was always honest with himself. He knew the life guard and that the life guard knew him… loved him. David was in a many predicaments but he always knew the way out…the only way out… God’s way out. David slew Goliath because God was with him. Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 1 Samuel 17:36

 

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (the living God), whom you have defied ~ 1 Samuel 17:45.

Yes, I, am He...

May the Peace of the Lord be with You ~ 2020

His Peace is still your deepest need and He, your Prince of Peace, longs to pour Himself into your neediness. His abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match. He designed you to have no sufficiency of your own.

He created you as a jar of clay, set apart for sacred use. He wants you to be filled with His very being, permeated through and through with Peace. Thank Him for His peaceful Presence, regardless of your feelings.

Whisper His name in loving tenderness. His Peace, which lives continually in your spirit, will gradually work its way through your entire being. ~ Jesus is Calling.

The New Year has already begin.  Are you prepared for what is on the horizon? Take time to be still in God's presence so that He can strengthen you. The busier you become, the more you need time with Him. Most people live and work in their own strength until that becomes depleted. Then they either cry out to God for help or turn away in bitterness. How much better it would be to walk close to God depending on Him, trusting in Him in every situation.

If you live that way, you will do less but accomplish more. Some may think that you are lazy but many more will be blessed by your peacefulness. Walk in the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will find what you are looking for and you will stop watching the world, stop hoping that the world will just get better. Remember, this world is passing away ~ 1 COR 7:31. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever ~ Hebrews 13:8.