teaching | Radical Disciples - A Remnant Revolution

Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

Little Compromises

Little Compromises
by John O. Reid

“. . . that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.” —Deuteronomy 17:20
Contrary to popular belief, we live in one of the most difficult and dangerous ages in all of human history. Some would be willing to argue this, saying that civilization has come a long way and that mankind is not as cruel as the record of history shows that he once was.

Certainly living in the first century in the Roman Empire must have been difficult, they might say as an example, since we have the Bible’s account of the apostles living in constant danger—and most of them died horrible deaths!

That is true. From what the Bible shows, that constant danger promoted closeness to God; the apostles relied on God to keep them safe and provide deliverance for them at every turn. While we are not being hunted down for our religious beliefs, the danger we face today is far greater—spiritually—in that it does just the opposite: It promotes a slow separation from God. We know this kind of danger by the illustration of the frog in the water. The increase in temperature happens so slowly that the frog fails to realize that it is in trouble until it is too late to jump to safety.

What produces this danger for us, the called-out children of God? What is the signature attitude of the era that we live in? What failing among the majority of people will cause the loss of our freedoms and the downfall of our nation? It is compromising with the laws and principles of God.

We live in a nation that has largely compromised the character it once possessed. Just a minority uphold the Christian principles that underlay documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which provided the foundation for America to become the envy of the world. Now, so many are willing to trade their hard-won freedoms for a little temporary security, essentially selling their birthright.

We face an analogous situation among the greater churches of God.

We live in a time when the majority of those with whom we once fellowshipped have compromised the beliefs they used to hold dear. Many of these people have joined worldly churches, or worse, losing faith altogether, have slipped back into the world. Some have contrived strange new doctrines to live by, and despite attending services among the scattered churches, too many have nearly lost their faith and zeal for this way of life.

In our church history, we can see how deadly even a little compromising with God’s ways is. It almost always leads to greater compromises until a person is so far from what has been revealed in Scripture that he has apostatized, cutting himself off from God. What a sad end after such a promising start!

Royal Compromise
God’s Word provides an example of compromise for us to learn from, if we are wise enough to heed it (Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11). This example comes from the life of the wisest king ever to live, one whom God blessed with wisdom that no one could gainsay, who had wealth and ability no one had ever possessed before. God loved this man greatly—He even spoke directly to him more than once, and because of the man’s humble response, blessed him far beyond what he requested. This king, a man of peace and learning, was commissioned to build the most beautiful Temple to God in Jerusalem.

The man, of course, was Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba.
To understand why Solomon’s compromises seemed so small and insignificant to him when he succumbed to them, we have to understand the situation of Solomon’s reign.

We could compare it to America today. As Psalm 18:43-44 suggests, David and his armies had essentially subjugated all of the world that mattered at the time. King David of Israel was “the head of the nations,” and faraway kings he did not even know trembled at the mention of his name. As the sole superpower in the region, wealth poured into Israel. When Solomon was made king upon David’s death, not a nation on the face of the earth would have considered attacking Israel. It was just too strong.

So, Solomon ruled the known world, and as time progressed and in that strength, he did not see the need to obey God fully in all that He had commanded the kings of Israel to do. In his power and wealth, he saw no problem with compromising just a little with God’s instruction. As we will see, Solomon failed completely in his old age, but the seeds of that failure were sown early in his reign.

II Chronicles 9:22-28 gives us a summary of his reign:

So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year. Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. So he reigned over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland. And they brought horses to Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.

This sounds like the perfect, storybook career until we notice God’s instruction to kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20:

When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,” you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, “You shall not return that way again.” Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

Was Solomon unaware of these instructions? Of course not. David, a man who knew God’s law intimately, would have been sure to instruct his son in them and have him write a copy of the law as commanded. Surely, Solomon could not have been ignorant of them. He, then, must have known it was wrong to import horses and chariots from Egypt, but because of his wealth and might, he must have considered this infraction too minor to take seriously.

Why did God not want Israel’s kings to import warhorses? Armored warhorses and the chariots they pulled can be compared to today’s tanks, which are devastating when fighting foot soldiers. A nation with this level of war materiel put their reliance on it as it made the army such a powerful fighting machine. Why should a nation trust an invisible God to fight its battles when it could see rank upon rank of seemingly invincible horses and chariots?

God wanted His people to rely on Him. Solomon knew this, since he wrote in Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but deliverance is of the Lord.” The issue of importing horses may have seemed a small thing to Solomon, but it was important to God. From all indications, his compromise in this matter began his slow separation from God.

Many Wives Too
Compounding his compromise concerning warhorses, by the end of his reign, Solomon had a substantial harem:

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. (I Kings 11:1-3)

As he began his reign, would Solomon have considered “multiply[ing] wives for himself,” especially to this extent? Probably not. When he was tender of heart, needing God to help him rule this great people and kingdom (see II Chronicles 1:7-12), he doubtless walked carefully, making sure he did what was commanded in everything. But once secure in knowledge, wealth, and power, he began to forget the God who had spoken to him, placed him in power, and given him all that he had.

Perhaps Solomon’s reasoning went something like this: “When I imported horses from Egypt, there were no adverse consequences, so what would be wrong with taking additional wives for political reasons?”

We do not normally see the results of sin immediately, yet they inevitably come. At some point, he learned this principle, writing in Ecclesiastes 8:11: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” In any case, knowing this did not help him, as I Kings 11:4-8 records:

For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

Wise Solomon fell victim to the same temptations that the rest of us so often face. He compromised on what he thought were small concerns—matters he probably considered well into the gray areas—to do things his way rather than God’s. The danger of such reasoning is that small compromises weaken character, and over time, they lead to major sins. For Solomon, the results were devastating. His experience is a warning of what will befall us if we follow his example of compromise.

The psalmist writes in Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: His praise endures forever.” Solomon’s compromises gradually but inexorably distorted his understanding of God’s laws and ways. He slowly drifted away from God, so that when he was old, unbelievable as it seems, he allowed his wives to turn his heart from the God that had given him everything.

From the “minor” infraction of importing horses, Solomon eventually condoned and was at least an accessory to the sins of idolatry and outright murder, sins that he would never have considered committing at the beginning of his reign. For, at the end of his life, Solomon worshipped Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech, the last having rituals that called for children to be given to the fire of his altar. By giving his royal sanction to worshipping these pagan deities, he set a precedent that was followed by many of the kings of Israel and Judah after him.

A Righteous Example

We can see what a little bit of compromise cost this supposedly wise man, as well as how it affected future generations of Israelites. But what about those of us who live in a world that feels free to compromise at will? Has this society and the spiritual confusion among some of the churches of God caused us to ignore the laws, principles, and statutes that we see in God’s Word?

Josiah, who reigned not long before Judah’s Babylonian captivity, was one of the most righteous kings. II Kings 23:10-11 records how he dealt with the “insignificant” issue of horses and the more important matter of child sacrifice:

And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

All it took was to stand up for what God had revealed, and he used the power given to him to respond in obedience.

In these perilous times, it is of the utmost importance that we resist the urge to use our human reasoning to compromise with God’s law.

We must be particularly careful in what we perceive as the “smaller areas” of God’s Word. Why? Because Satan often makes his greatest inroads by getting us to relax in little things and gradually convincing us to do the same in more vital matters. If he can just get his foot in the door, he feels he has won a great victory and can make us slip away from God. Paul, however, exhorts us, “. . . nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27).

Once we compromise, the process of sin has commenced, and godly character, which is so precious to God, begins to erode, opening the way for sin on a larger scale. If a wise man like Solomon went from ignoring a seemingly obscure admonition to the flagrant breaking of many of God’s commandments, we, too, can certainly yield to the peril of compromise. We must learn to spot and avoid the little compromises that lead to big sins.

The True Gospel

Posted: May 7, 2011 in disciples life, teaching

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:6-12.

As we begin to look into these passages and update them by the help of God’s Holy Spirit to our day and time, I might say first of all that Paul marveled that the believers could be so soon drawn away from the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another. Somebody asked, “Why did he keep twisting back and forth?” Well, just let me make something plain right quick. When Paul said, called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another, he was nailing down the fact that there is only one Gospel of Christ. Oh, how the world needs to understand this and get this clear in their minds that there is only one Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Paul said that they had been so quickly drawn away from the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is not another. Somebody said, “What is it then?” It is the gospel perverted. I want you to see by the help of God that the words that Paul spoke there are just as true today as they were then. The devil believes and trembles. He knows that there is one Gospel, and he knows that the Gospel has power to deliver men and women from everything that they need to be delivered from for all the time that remains. Therefore, since the devil knows that there is only one Gospel of God; and it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, his only hope is to pervert that Gospel.

Man knows well enough that there is only one Gospel. Therefore, the devil could not come along and sell the world another gospel. No, no, my friends, his move has been ever since there has been a Gospel to pervert that Gospel, leave it under the same heading, read it out of the same Bible, change it enough that it will kill its power and effectiveness, and still leave a world believing that they believe in the Gospel. Consequently, we have the sad, sad condition all around us today.

Men and women are believing that there is only one Gospel only one way, only one God, and so forth; but yet they are living lives in a powerless condition with no victory over sin. They are living on the same level that they lived on in sin before they supposedly ever accepted Jesus Christ. When we begin to look at Paul marveling that believers should be so soon drawn away unto another gospel, the marvel today is just a little different. The marvel today is that religious folks will not so much as admit that there is such a thing as another gospel. It makes no difference what they believe or how far it is from the Word of God; people say that it is still the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The devil has somewhat reversed things today: I pray that God will help us to lay hold of some truths here that we need to consider.

Someone may ask, “Well, why are you so fearful? Why are you so stirred about this?” Friends, my heart is deeply stirred when I see a world going down a fast slide into a lost eternity and men and women in religion on every side but living with no victory. God is not glorified in their lives, but yet they will talk right back and say that they believe the Gospel. This message needs to be sounded out. The Gospel has been perverted on every side. It is not another gospel, but they have perverted the Gospel till it does not have the power and the effect anymore.

In Galatians 3:1, he said, O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you…? He begins there by using the word “bewitched.” Let us see, how bewitching and how deceiving the power of the enemy really is. All the witch doctors are not in India or Africa. Some of them are Doctors of Divinity standing in the pulpits, and they are bewitching people just as much as the Scripture said. They are bewitching them to a place where they will not believe the Gospel, and all the time the people are made to believe that they are hearing Gospel truth and that they can stake their eternal soul’s welfare on it. May God help us!

Some people will say in regard to this message, I don’t think you need to get excited. I think the need is to preach the Gospel and get men and women saved.” Well, we are going to preach the Gospel; but I am going to clear off a place first. Brothers and sisters, we need to realize that everything is not Gospel truth. I say without fear of successful contradiction that a great percentage of what you are hearing in the religious world is not Gospel truth. I want to make it plain right now that I am not speaking against any individual anywhere, but I am speaking against spirits of the enemy that are out to do a work. The devil is sending more souls to hell through religion than he is through any other avenue. Countless millions have their names on church records and are as sure of making hell their home if they would die today as if they were there already. Yet they are going along being numbed and bewitched.

If you try to talk about the True Gospel to them, they tell you, “I have no need. Go to that drunkard. Go to that man who doesn’t have his name in the Lambs book of life. I don’t need help. Go to him.” The religious world needs help today as badly as the rest. If you do not think that it is a marvel today, just begin to really deal with some souls in the religious world and try to help them. The marvel today is that folks will not so much as admit the fact that there is such a thing as another gospel. It can be perverted.

The Word of God can be added to or taken away from, but this spirit of the age has done such a work that people are ready to gather it all together and say that it is all the Gospel and we are all the Church. You cannot find anyone who is preaching another gospel. They are all preaching the Gospel; but just as the Word declares, the Gospel has been perverted. It has been perverted when it will not deal out the results that God has put in His Word. Therefore, we need to note, my friend, that this deliberate blindness which has come over the hearts and minds of too many people towards the truth speaks of a grave condition. It says loudly that modern churchgoers have been so touched and molded by another gospel that they refuse to admit its existence.

Right there is the first deception, whenever the devil sells you such a bill of goods and causes you to believe that which is contrary to the Word of God. The devil has so deceived some people that they refuse to believe that their perverted gospel is anything different from the Book even though it reads differently and teaches differently from the Book. They defend it as the Gospel of God and refuse discussion about it.

Now here is your bewitching. You can deal with people today who are just as far off the track as they can be religiously. They are still living the old life style. Some of them are living wicked and sinful lives six days a week; but they have been taught a gospel, and it is Gospel truth as far as they are concerned. When you get ready to put the Word right on them, they say, “Look, I don’t even want to discuss it.” Well, the devil has done a good job there. This is what I am talking about. May God help us to see the sad condition that mankind is in!

Satan through religion has perverted the big things in righteousness, and our world has a twisted concept of the very essence of the Gospel. The results of it are easy to see. The inspired Scriptures are not the final word. No, people today will brazenly tell you, when you read the Scripture to them, that their church does not teach that; but if you would turn around and tell them that is “another gospel,” they would say, “No, it is not another gospel. It is THE GOSPEL.”

The results are that the inspired Scriptures are not final. In fact, the Scriptures are quite hostile to such people. If you want to “bum up” a religious person, just put some straight truth on him. Man, he will get hostile, even though the Gospel is what will save him. Yet you put the Gospel on him, and he will become hostile. He will let you know what kind of a spirit he really has. This great Gospel of Jesus Christ will still uncover every spirit. It will show us what we really are. In fact, that is what the Gospel is for first of all–to show us our true condition.

There are two things that the Gospel of God will do. It will show you your true condition first. Secondly, it will show you a way out of it. The Gospel will not pat you on the back when you are wrong. The Gospel will not make a way for you when you are not right. When your attitude is wrong and old ugly feelings down in your heart are manifesting a wrong spirit, the Gospel will not make any room for you.

In Gal 6:1-12, we see that Paul is talking about how the enemy, working through the realms of religion, has switched mankind to another gospel and has caused them to pervert the very Gospel of God. I say again that the false teachings of religion have perverted many of the big things of righteousness. The very nature of God Himself has been substituted. The false teachings of religion cause you to feel that God will put up with and go along with things that His Gospel is totally against.

Sinners, religious or otherwise, are talking about the love of God. I have thought much on this lately. You never saw a world that hangs so much on the love of God. Sinners without any religious affiliation and religious sinners will grab for that one straw–the love of God–when you go to put the heat on them. According to the Bible, anyone who is not regenerated knows nothing about the love of God. No one knows about the love of God unless he has been born again. A sinner knows nothing about the love of God, but we have unregenerate men from the pulpit right on down telling all about what God loves. Unless you have been born again, you are as ignorant about the love of God as a hog is about Sunday.

Let us get right to the Gospel. This may be a little rough, but it will not hurt you. When God uses a dusting rag on the Church, it is a sword. That is a pretty rough thing to dust you off with, but He will get the dust off if you will hold still; and if you do not hold still, He may take an ear off or something else. We have an unregenerate world standing right up in battle and telling you and me what the love of God is. I want this driven down securely: No one knows anything about the love of God until he has been born again and is living in Christ Jesus. We find that in the many religious sects and cults of our day, they are all telling you about the love of God. Yet right in the same breath, they tell you how they sin and everyone sins. If you still live in sin, you know nothing about the love of God.

God is love. That is His very nature, but this perverting of the Gospel by men who know nothing of the love of God endeavors to drag Him down to a human level when they begin to tell you how God loves and what God loves. May God help the true preachers in our day to raise up and tell the world that God is angry with the sinner every day. You do not have the love of God abiding on you when you commit sin. Read I John, II John, and III John. The wrath of God abides on you when you commit sin. Even bumper stickers now say, “Smile. God loves you.” Some will say, “Don’t you think He loves the world?” Certainly, He does; but I am talking about experiencing and knowing the love of God to the place where you are able to get up and give directions and tell people what God loves and what He hates.

Certainly, God loves the world. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. However, and I want you to get this: that does “not” mean that we can continue to live a life of sin, being slaves to sin, and still be “ok” with God! God’s love for the sinner is shown in that He gave His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on an old rugged cross, to take our sins “from” us, that we might have a “right” relationship with Him!

Let us find where the love of God really is. The Gospel will tell us where the love of God is. Friend, somebody needs to open the machine guns of truth against this evil thing. I pray God will drop a spiritual bomb and blow it wide open so that men and women can see what a sad condition they are in. Some may ask, “Are you sure that no sinner knows the love of God?” I am positive of it. Certainly, God has a love for them; but I want to make it plain that no one knows anything of the love of God until he has been truly born again and regenerated. Paul said in Galatians 1:15 and 16, But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood…

John 3:16, the true and ooure Gospel, says that God so loved the world–a world of lost humanity–that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him (the Greek says “into Him”) should not perish, but have everlasting life. How much did God love them? This verse shows us the degree of His love and the immensity of His love. God’s love was wrapped up in Jesus Christ. When we turn Jesus Christ and His Word down, there is nothing but the wrath of God abiding on us. God’s love is in Jesus Christ!

Romans, Chapter 8, is sometimes read to try to strengthen the feeble knees of sinners and make them feel that they can go on in their sin. They are told by many preachers that if they profess an experience with God, the grace of God will cover them; and they will never be lost. That is a doctrine that comes from the pits of hell. There are no such statements as that in the Gospel; but oh, this Scripture in Romans 8:38 and 39 is misused so many times: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Where is the love of God? It is in Jesus Christ. If you are not in Jesus Christ, you do not know anything about the love of God. When you come in old-time repentance and are born again, you are grafted into the living Vine and baptized by one Spirit into Jesus Christ. When you get into Jesus Christ, you begin to know what the love of God is. Someone may say, “Why, he said right there that nothing will separate you.” He nailed it right down that if we will stay in Christ, nothing can separate us from the love of God. When you are born again, the Spirit of God sheds abroad the love of God in your heart; and when you stay in Christ, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ. However, you can separate yourself from Christ.

In I John 3:1, we read, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.. We become as different to the world as Jesus was. This old thing of fusing the Church and the world together is an act of Satan. He has tried to work it all down through the ages, but real salvation makes you and keeps you as separate from the world as Jesus Himself was. The reason why you are different is that the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart.

You get an understanding of what the love of God really is. Too many people do not understand what it means to be a partaker of His nature. We know that love is one of His attributes; but that is His very nature, also. II Peter 1:1-4 tells us: Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. That is the way that you grow. The way that you get grace and peace multiplied is by getting a greater knowledge of God, and you get a greater knowledge of God as you study and meditate upon His Word and allow Holy Ghost to bring this revelation home

I want you to see that the love of God is only revealed as we are born again. In John 1:13, we are told that we are those Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. We are not doing what we want to do or what man wants us to do, but we are doing what God said to do. We are born of God; and when we are born of God, He gives us power to become sons of God through His divine power. We are made a partaker of His divine nature. Right there we begin to know the love of God.

I can tell you right now that you have never seen a Holy Ghost filled believer fight holiness. You have never seen a Holy Ghost filled believer that wanted to commit sin. When the love of God is shed abroad in your heart, you will love the things that God loves. Yes, you become a partaker of His divine nature.

In regard to a false love of God, let us go back now to Galatians 1:6-12. According to Paul, another gospel has completely changed the definition of God’s love. This is sad, but it is true. God’s love today according to religious derelicts is a growing toleration. Now let us just lay it out like it is. The farther we go, the filthier that which calls itself the Church becomes and the more her people look like Jezebels. They are so much like the world that no one can tell where the world stops and the Church starts; but all the time they are setting this image up as the love of God getting greater. They feel that the love of God is getting greater in that it is tolerating more and more.

I can prove to you by the Gospel that the love of God will have less toleration the farther you go with God and the straighter and more narrow your life will get. Furthermore, you will love it that way. People who are filled with the Holy Spirit love the naked truth sharp and straight just like it is. I Corinthians 13:6 says that charity Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. It does not rejoice in iniquity; but this thing which is being set forth as the love of God today is declaring it to be a growing toleration of more and more of that which is questionable, polluted, filthy, and vile.

With this false love comes an animosity and a hatred for any true servant who thunders out the Word of God as it is. Isn’t it a strange thing that they can love everything from the darkness of the Babylonian church clear on through! They have a love that will cover all the filth and ungodliness; but let a man walk up who will lay the truth out as it is, and they will hate that individual. Let us put the test where it belongs, my friend. There is a hatred that rises up against a servant of God who will still thunder out the words of God that say, “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16).

In the Gospel, God lets us know that if we are going to understand and possess His love, we must also possess His holiness. The same divine power that quickens us into a new life sheds the love of God abroad. “Another gospel” which Paul talks about has made such a deep impression on the hearts and minds of people. In fact, too many of those who claim to be God’s people even accept the thought of another gospel; and when one cries out against it, they say that he is not manifesting love.

Someone said, “Do you really think God’s people are affected by that?” It is pitiful, my friend, when we consider this great move under the guise of “Grace” whose image is nothing more than a production of this very false image of love that I am talking about. Many of the people of God have been swept away with the movement that claims to be the Church of God. They have joined ranks, and now they will get red faced if you stand up and preach a separate Gospel that separates a people from sin and false religion.

Friends, you can talk all you want to about Babylonian church raising up one of these days; and she is going to raise up one of these days and do just what the Bible says–she will swallow up all her daughters. However, she will not have to have any guns to swallow them up. This thing that I am preaching about has laid the groundwork and opened up the way. Friends, Babylon is not going to have to rise up and make the deceived come home. We can see how they are walking back home under the powerful deception of this thing. Yes, sadly many are walking under the delusion of a false gospel which is leading them right back into Religious house of Babylon.

Some will say, “don’t you know that isn’t the way to win the world?” This is what I am speaking against. “Another gospel which is not another” has worked on the minds of more people than we are ready to realize. I can bring it right down closer.

The culture of the world has invaded the church to such a great degree that today there is hardly a noticeable difference between the two. We see that the culture in which the “church” people are living in our day is totally different that the culture the saints in the Book of Acts lived. You are not abiding by this Gospel. You have “another gospel,” and you are perverting the Gospel of Christ. It is the same old spirit. My friend, the Word and the Spirit of God send forth a message to tell you to lay hold of some things that are not conducive to Christianity and to get them out of your life, get them out of your home, and get rid of them. Then, along you come with the idea that you can still be a saint and hang on to these things. You say, “I will live my life.” Friends, that is not this Gospel; that is “another gospel.”

Somebody said, “How are we going to tell the difference?” I will tell you before we get through. “Another gospel” has made such deep impressions on the hearts and minds of the people that many even of God’s people will not accept the thought of another gospel. I do not make a hobby of preaching against false religion; but when God says preach that message, I preach that message. When you stand up and cry out against false religion, people say that you are not manifesting love. This modern worldly religious love accepts everything and everybody but those who obey the Gospel. The Church of Babylon is laughing as it looks at many in the church today, for they are being lead astray, walking right into her arms. All it took was a false teaching on love.

May the God of true mercy, grace and love allow Holy Ghost bring to home this revelation to open our eyes!

Go to the Cross

Posted: May 7, 2011 in disciples life, teaching

“There is no victory over the indwelling power of sin, and there is no pardon for the guilt of sin, but as the soul deals with the blood of Christ. The great end of our dear Lord’s death was to destroy the works of the devil. Sin is the great work of Satan. To overcome this, to break its power, subdue its dominion, repair its ruins, and release from its condemnation, the blessed Son of God suffered the ignominious death of the cross.

All that bitter agony which He endured – all that mental suffering – the sorrow of His soul in the garden – the sufferings of His body on the cross – all was for sin. See, then, the close and beautiful connection between the death of Christ and the death of sin. All true sanctification comes through the cross.

Reader, seek it there. The cross brought into your soul by the eternal Spirit will be the death of your sins. Go to the cross – oh, go to the cross of Jesus. In simplicity of faith, go. With the strong corruption, go. With the burden of guilt, go, go to the cross. You will find nothing but love there – nothing but welcome there – nothing but purity there. The precious blood of Jesus ‘cleanses us from all sin.’ And while you are kept low beneath the cross, your enemy dares not approach you, sin shall not have dominion over you, nor shall Satan, your accuser, condemn you.”

–Octavius Winslow, Morning Thoughts

KINGDOM LIGHT

Posted: May 5, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: kingdom growth, Kingdom life, Kingdom living, Kingdom teaching, radical christianity

Christ Jesus came from heaven to earth. He was born without an earthly father by the seed of God through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born outside the lineage of Adam and is without the curse of Adam’s sin. He matured as a natural man without a sin heritage and was filled with God by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Without the hindrance of a damaged soul, body, and spirit, He was one with His Father in heaven. All the love, power, and wisdom of God the Father abode in the man Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Christ Jesus did not come to establish the Christian religion nor any other religion. He did not come to give us a religious order nor provide us with a set of ritualistic rules and practices to get us to heaven when we die. He came to redeem mankind and the kingdoms of earth. He came and now abides within believers to establish a very practical kingdom of God, one in which peace and good will toward man prevails. One of the mistakes of religious-thinking people is to consider Jesus as the champion of the Christian religion and compare Him to the champions of other religions of the world.

The supreme wisdom, truth, and understandings given through Jesus Christ are not for the purpose of being catalogued, classified, and labeled as religious doctrines and practices by man. The words of Jesus are not for establishing theology, religious services, or any other religious ritual. The teachings of Jesus are to be the foundational framework for guiding and empowering the individual and every form of authority in the world. The basic kingdom principles are not just a guide for religion or church. Every ruling authority must eventually structure the base of its function by the principles of God’s kingdom given through Christ Jesus. No other form or set of principles will ever lead to peace on earth and good will toward man.

The theme of the Bible is the message of Jesus. The message of Jesus is the kingdom of God or, said another way, the rule of God from heaven on earth through redeemed man. The message of Jesus is not just how to get to heaven when we die or how to establish a set of doctrines for our denomination. As we stop looking with religious eyes and begin to ask God for practical understanding of His Word to guide and empower our lives today, we may be amazed at how simple, practical, and real His Word really is; especially the teachings of Christ Jesus in the Gospels.

In the passing church age, many Christians separated the religious from the real within their minds. They would stand outside a church building and function in the real part of their thinking discussing things that are real to them, such as their jobs or a recent sporting event. Then, they would walk inside the church building, sit down, and subconsciously shift their minds to the unreal religious portion of their minds. Everything that happened, every word heard or spoken, was then affecting only the religious portion of their soul. Little, if any, crossed over into the reality portion of their minds. This great wall of separation within the individual prevented the principles and wisdom of God from greatly affecting their life experience. It was not available in the reality portion of their lives to guide their life decisions. Decisions about education, job, business, family, entertainment and other important areas of real life were made without the benefit of the supreme wisdom of God’s kingdom principles.

Religion can become a blinding force that can rob a person of sight. One may see the words of a portion of scripture and not see the meaning and application of it for his life. One may hear the Word spoken and yet not have ears to hear the powerful truth that will affect his or her daily life. The words spoken may have doctrinal or religious meaning for the religious portion of their lives and have little or no effect on the kingdom of God ruling their entire life. The instruction and empowering principles for kingdom living will not appear to the person looking at the Bible with religious eyes and denominationally colored vision.

I have been a part of church services where the Word from God was brought with power and obviously affected the people in the congregation. Yet, I was amazed to see the people shift at the final Amen, back to their real mode and resume conversation about recent sporting events and other such things as though nothing had happened. Only the religious part of their lives was affected and little or nothing changed in their daily lives.

Christ Jesus did not come to earth to fill a portion of our lives or to become a part of our lives. Christ must fill our entire life and become our life. The will of God will be done, and the kingdom of God will come in our lives when Jesus is our life. “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

Similarly, we must not interpret nor apply the Bible from a partitioned perspective. We must seek an undivided view of spiritual interpretation of the Bible for our whole life experience. True purpose for man’s life can only come from knowing God’s purpose from His words. The words of God are a living and powerful force guiding the metamorphosis of the heavenly kingdom of God on earth. A major purpose of man is to intimately relate to God in such a way that Christ is formed within him to establish the kingdom of God and rule and reign with him on the planet.

Ruling and reigning with Him encompasses every aspect of life, not just religious matters. All governments, businesses, families, schools, churches, and other institutions in the earth are to be ruled by Christ living in man. Science, technology, arts, all disciplines of knowledge and practice, and every skill of man are to be ruled by the indwelling Christ in man.

The kingdom of God is much larger than the local church. It is given birth from the church but grows to encompass all aspects of earth. The kingdom of God is larger than redemption. It is in part the reason for redemption and the purpose of the church. The kingdom of God and His righteous ways of doing and being will rule our lives and, eventually, our world as we individually and cumulatively seek Jesus, the message of God. Jesus is the message of the kingdom of God on earth from heaven. He is the King over all other rulers and authorities in the world. He is the Lord over all other men and angels or any created thing.

The King is now present on earth to rule and reign with believers. The message of Jesus, the gospel of the kingdom of God, is coming forth on earth by the indwelling Spirit of Christ within believers. Christ in you the hope of Glory (Col 1:27). He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:12).

The enlightenment of the kingdom of God in the beginning of the seventh millennium challenges many of our traditional interpretations of scripture. Even the translations from the original language of the Bible coming forth during the sixth millennium beg to be reevaluated. A return to the original Greek and Hebrew text of the Bible
viewed in the light of the revelation of the kingdom is needed to clean up some religious traditions interpreted into our contemporary Bibles.

When the Apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned the New Testament, they were often recording events they personally witnessed or heard directly from the Lord. Paul, for example, taught the kingdom of God from the perspective of personally experiencing the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit performing miracles of healing, deliverance, and personal protection. Kingdom power was a part of their daily lives, along with persecutions from the Jewish religious leaders and resistance from a few church leaders.

Though kingdom power and authority were a part of their everyday lives, they lived two thousand years ago. There has been movement toward the fulfillment of some things since that time. Sometimes, because the Bible is so everlasting and alive, I feel that we are still living in that same time frame. Of course, most things do not change in the spiritual realm. The Word of God is forever settled in heaven; and, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Though the Word never changes, our ability to understand it does change as God gives clarification of revelation by the Holy Spirit. Some people talk about returning to first century Christianity. I believe we are entering even a greater season. Seventh millennium kingdom reality will exceed that of the first century. I believe Paul and the others would say a big Amen to that.

Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom of God. After Pentecost the disciples had clear revelation of the gospel of the kingdom and proclaimed it with great power and clarity. Paul and others of his day had clearer revelation of the kingdom than any subsequent generation throughout the fifth and sixth millennia.

Paul, toward the end of his ministry, clearly warned that apostasy would soon occur within the church. The great apostasy that began after the first century caused the revelation of the kingdom and the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to be hidden and lost to the church in general. The great revelation and power of the first century was adulterated and lost as vast darkness covered the world. The church became a religious monstrosity as man’s fallen ways replaced the pure leadership of Jesus Christ working within men through the Holy Spirit.

The apostles of the Lamb and the disciples of the first century had a clear revelation of the kingdom of God. Their original writings in the Greek language reflected the understanding of the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, the major English translations of the Bible we have today were translated fifteen hundred or more years after the first century. The great apostasy of the dark ages caused the pure word of the kingdom to be perverted, as many false doctrines of religion affected man’s understanding and clouded the great gospel of the kingdom. Paul had warned that apostasy would come after he was gone. It came and caused the pure word of the kingdom of God to be taken from the church and replaced with other doctrines and rituals.

(Acts 20:29-31 NKJV) For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

In the second and third centuries, Christians were greatly persecuted. They were tortured, beheaded, burned, and thrown to wild beasts. Christians survived in caves, wilderness areas, and undercover in cities. Despite the attempt by Roman emperors to eradicate Christianity, it continued to spread and to remain relatively pure.

In the fourth century, Constantine, a Roman emperor, was miraculously converted to Christianity and made it the state religion, bringing an end to the great persecution. The state church of the fourth and fifth centuries was very different from the pilgrim spiritual church of the first three centuries. Constantine established Sunday as a day of worship and rest. During this time the church was no longer being purified by persecution and soon experienced an inrush of pagan ideas and ways. The church’s prosperity was its greatest peril. This was the beginning of corrupt leadership and practices within the church. Instead of the church separating itself from paganism it adapted to it.

Church leaders established a hierarchy of control and power. They fought for position, bought and sold religious favors and positions, openly lived immorally, and developed doctrines to favor their positions of power. The Papal system developed with a number of locally powerful Popes. Eventually the power shifted toward Rome and a universal, all-powerful Pope. In the fifth century the Barbarians overthrew a portion of the empire and some were converted to Christianity. However, their conversions were nominal and helped introduce increased pagan practices into the church.

Though some Popes were better than others, in general, from about the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, the corruption continued. The Spiritual life of the first century church was replaced with a politically powerful, corrupt, and very ritualistic religious system. In this system, the people were required to pay for forgiveness of their sins, the church collected taxes, and leaders made themselves as gods. Indulgences were sold–the greater the sin, the greater the price. The church became very rich. Church doctrines were established by the Papal hierarchy to bring political authority under the Pope. According to their rules, salvation or forgiveness of sins could not be had outside the Roman Catholic Church. It was absolutely necessary for every human creature, in order to obtain forgiveness, to be subject to the Roman Pontiff. Any one with a different view was considered a heretic. In an attempt to rid the world of heresy, the church killed many of them.

Though the church was polluted by perverted leadership and false doctrines, I personally believe that there were real Christians with godly beliefs and practices on the fringes and hidden within the church body. It seems from scripture that there is always at least a remnant of godly people during even the darkest of times. They may not be openly visible and history may pass them by but they are there (Romans 11:3-5).

The renaissance period of learning brought a renewed interest in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, which began to expose the unscriptural corruption of the medieval church. Early reformers met with strong and deadly resistance from the church. The church began persecuting Christians instead of the Roman government persecuting them. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries began the modern reformation of Christianity. Spiritual truth began to be restored, piece-by- piece, as biblical teachings were revealed to men. The restoration of revelation continues today and the church continues to attempt to free itself of the lingering doctrines and rituals of the past apostasy.

It was during the early part of the current restoration period (1611) that King James authorized the English translation of the Bible that we still use today. It was in this period of limited, spiritual light and ritualistic, religious background that the Bible began to be translated into other languages. Over twenty major editions of the English New Testament appeared before the Hampton Court Conference in which King James approved the project that produced the King James Version (KJV). Most of these, as well as the KJV, were little more than revisions of the earlier work of William Tyndale. The translation of the NKJ New Testament is estimated to be up to ninety percent of the actual wording of Tyndale’s New Testament.

With the light they had, the men sought to translate the Hebrew and Greek text into English. But, they did not have the revelation of the kingdom of God or the gospel of the kingdom that the original first century writers had. They sought to make sense of the Word in the context and framework of their revelation and understanding at the time. Many of the Hebrew and Greek words could be translated different ways. There is no exact word-for-word comparison between the languages. The translators had to rely on their understanding of the context and the speaker’s intent to determine which way to go with the translation and which English words to use.

A number of revisions of the King James Version have been produced, including the American Standard Version in 1901 and the New American Standard Version in 1959. All of the translations and revisions have borne the impression of the clarity of revelation and understanding of God from the point in time they were written. They also bear the essence of the spiritual color (area of revealed truth) of the individuals doing the translating.

God continues to reveal Himself and His ways to His people according to what they can receive and handle. The church is still very much affected by the trappings of the apostate church of past centuries. As periods of enlightenment come one after another, revelation comes forth and truth is restored to the church. It was only about four hundred years ago when salvation by grace through faith was restored to the church. From that time to the present, many powerful truths have been revealed to God’s people. With each new enlightenment we tend to think we now have it all. yet the revelation of God continues to come.

The original text, as it was originally written, is believed to be the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God, God-breathed and without error. The translations of the Bible are not. They are an evolved series of translations through different languages from the original.

The recent clarification of revelation of Christ in believers producing the victorious kingdom of God lifestyle with authority over the enemy and all of his works sheds bright new light on the Word of God. At this present point in time, the revelation of kingdom begs for a return to the original language texts as much as possible. The clear revelation that may be clearly seen through the Holy Spirit in the Greek and Hebrew text may be obscured in our translations. We must depend on the anointing of the Holy Spirit to open and explain the scripture to our spirit.

1 John 2:27: But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

Considering the Hebrew and Greek text in light of the kingdom of God potential now and in the future may cause passages speaking of victorious kingdom living to become brilliantly alive; and it may cause some passages to crumble, which seem to say that God’s people can only wait to die or escape.

Various doctrines and rituals of the church originated in the apostate past or in the beginning light of the reformation period. Some long-held traditional doctrines may need to be exposed to the light of the kingdom by the Holy Spirit and measured by the Hebrew and Greek scriptures.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Sin no more!

Posted: May 3, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
Tags: Christian life, discipleship, kingdom of darkness, Kingdom teaching, radical christianity, righteousness, Spirit first, Spirit led life

For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions. Do not continue offering or yielding your bodily members [and [a]faculties] to sin as instruments (tools) of wickedness. But offer and yield yourselves to God as though you have been raised from the dead to [perpetual] life, and your bodily members [and [b]faculties] to God, presenting them as implements of righteousness.

For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God’s favor and mercy]. (Rom 6:10-14 AMP)

As I woke this morning I felt in my spirit that we are in the day of urgency, when we must present our bodies before the Lord as living sacrifices and with that we must live sinless lives.

The Word is filled with powerful passages of the power of God, the power of His Christ to not only defeat sin, but to live righteous lives having had sin’s power broken in our lives. We must live in the faith of God’s Word, believing in it’s power. Does not His Word declare:

“But now since you have been set free from sin and have become the slaves of God, you have your present reward in holiness and its end is eternal life” (Rom 6:22)

Not only that if we truly believe the word of our Lord, then we can live a life without sin:

“And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more” (John 8:11)

Are we living lives free from sin today – have we grasped His Word allowing it to live out through our lives? I look at my life and tremble for I see a past not merely as I walked as one not knowing Christ but even as one who had received the truth – I read 1 Cor 15 and Holy Spirit brings such a conviction into my life such as when I read the verse stating “Let’s eat and drink because tomorrow we’re going to die!

So what is the answer to not living so carelessly as to put the gospel message in my life to shame? We find it in verse 34 “Come back to the right point of view, and stop sinning”. And what is that right point of view? That I have been, thru the cross of Christ my Lord been set free from sin.

The Spirit has been searching my thoughts as of late and I have questioned my self as to whether I have been living the religious game – O’ how many of us think we can live as the world lives and yet have the fragrance of the Lord on our lives! We must come out from the world and all its thinking, allowing Holy Ghost to separate us unto the Lord. We must go to the alter of the Lord and having laid our lives down their, allow our lives to be put to death in the baptism of the Lord.

God call’s us (those called by His Name) to be Holy even as He is Holy. The good news is that we can not do it on our own – the best news is where we fail, God Triumphs! All of our works can not achieve it, only thru Christ can we live a righteous and holy life. We must humble ourselves, having realized that we are completely incapable of pleasing a Holy & Righteous God – Yet through His Son we can! The Word say’s say that our works are but filthy rags in His sight – think of the dirtiest rag you have ever seen, then think of what you consider the best deed you’ve ever done – Now look back at that picture of the dirty rag – there you have the view of what your great deed looks like before the Lord!

God doesn’t accept just anything. Worship is the act of offering what God asks, with a heart of affection. Both Cain and King Saul experienced God’s rejection from the altar.

Neither men met the simple criteria of true worship, and were refused for it. God reveals the worship He enjoys in scripture, particularly the sacrificial law. May it be noted, Jesus satisfied all of the law’s sacrificial requirements, freeing us to worship our Father in spirit and in truth. Still, the sacrificial law recorded in scripture offers us precious revelation on true worship.

While the Old Testament prescribes all the outward acts of worship, it doubly reveals the inward spirit Father is looking for.

The matter is clear. The closer we draw to spirit-based worship, the farther we flee from human cleverness. He’s not looking for originality or invention, but authenticity and humility. I understand that creativity and authenticity are not mutually exclusive. Still, the essence of spirit-based worship is to depart from intellectual demonstration to enter into humble observation of His magnificence. Psalm 46:10 explains, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, requires a yielding of the intellect to matters of spirit.

Yet still, can we admit that what God wants, and what our fallen nature wants to give Him are two very different things? He doesn’t want what we want for Him. He wants what He wants. Period.

There is nothing artificial sweet about the cross of Christ, or the surrender of self-will to the sovereignty of God. The sweetness lies in the reward of sacrifice, which is the unabated fellowship of spirit to Spirit. We don’t need to sweeten the pot to gain the favor of God. Humble grains of obedience will do.

If the generation we live in is too see the beautiful reality of God’s Bride, we must come out from under religion, we must start walking in righteousness with holy lives through Christ Jesus our Lord. We must be willing to put to death every worldly desire, every worldly agenda and submit our lives to the Father in everything we do and say. For it is then that the world shall witness His Glory, shining forth through broken vessels.

Today we must live free of sin, no longer slaves to it’s power – that power which Jesus Christ broke – that power which is destroyed through the message of the cross, by the power of the Blood of the Lamb, shown forth in the testimony of our lives lived through Christ. For when we take the fullness of what our Lord did there and apply it through the revelation of Holy Ghost in Spiritual truth, it is then that it may be seen fully manifested in our lives.

Today is the day that we must surrender to the cross and sin no more!!!

For we who are called by His Name, do indeed serve an Awesome God!

IHS,
Russ Welch

UNIVERSAL RECIPROCITY

Posted: May 2, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
Tags: Bride of Christ, Christian life, kingdom growth, Kingdom living, kingdom of darkness, Kingdom teaching

UNIVERSAL RECIPROCITY

Universal reciprocity can be viewed as The Universal Bank in Heaven. It is the only completely secure bank. All other banks can fail, but our deposits are secure in God’s bank. Just as a natural bank is a place where we deposit our money or treasures until we call for them, so the bank of heaven is a depository for our treasures until we call for them. The enemy would like for us to believe that we cannot make withdrawals from the bank of heaven now, that we must wait until we die and go to heaven to have any use of our account in heaven. That same enemy desires that we believe everything about heaven pertains to only the future, and not now. This would be like a bank forbidding us the use of our checking account. Yes, we are to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth. But where does Scripture say that we must die and go to heaven to before we can access them?

We are being used of God in the business of ruling and reigning on earth with Him. We are God’s earthly managers bringing forth His will on earth as it is in heaven. God’s universal laws govern the working arrangement between God and His earthly managers (mankind). As good managers of God’s assets we are instructed to lay up treasures in heaven by faithfully and obediently managing our lives and all He has put into our hands. We are clearly instructed not to gather treasures on earth for ourselves.

Matthew 6:19-20: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Meeting needs of mankind and the world around us makes a deposit in our account in the universal bank in heaven. We are God’s possession and all that is in our hands belongs to Him. Our personal accounts in heaven are His riches reserved for us. When we have need, God supplies all our need according to His riches in glory.

Philippians 4:17: Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

Matthew 19:21: Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

1 Peter 1:4: …to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.

Phil 4:19: And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

SOWING AND REAPING

One of the major banking laws governing business activities of the “Universal Bank in Heaven” is the universal law of sowing and reaping. In the realm of physics, this law may be expressed as the law of cause and effect. Isaac Newton said, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In the realm of finance, one might refer to it as the law of investment and return. A preacher might express it as giving and receiving. The farmer would speak of planting and harvesting. In any case, the law always involves a costly sowing process. We must take what we have and plant it. We may desire to consume it, but we know there will be no harvest if we do not plant.

Psalm 126:5-6: Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Galatians 6:7-l0: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

We will reap what we sow, if we do not lose heart. We must patiently wait and remain until harvest time. All sowing requires a period of natural growth before harvest. If we, for any reason, lose heart and leave or quit before the harvest time, we will miss the harvest. It may be wasted or another may gather the harvest we planted. Man does not decide when it is harvest time; the crop does. We must be available and ready to put in the sickle immediately when the harvest time comes.

No one can reap until someone has sown. To look for a harvest without sowing means that we are looking to receive from what someone else has sown. This is like borrowing and must be paid back. The account books will be balanced. To continue to borrow (seeking to reap without sowing) will put us further and further in debt and into the bondage of lack. It’s much the same as if we continued to borrow money from a natural bank, but made no payments. We are given an original inheritance in our account but if we never use it to do good, we make no deposits. Our inheritance will soon be gone and we will have nothing in the universal bank to draw upon.

We are to sow (doing good) to all, but especially to those of the household of faith. The more we can do to really meet the needs of God’s people and all mankind, the more we will reap. Helping to provide food for people by farming, processing, or distributing, is sowing. Using what we have to manufacture and distribute or otherwise provide clothing, clean water, adequate housing, transportation, medical services, and so on are forms of meeting needs. Mankind’s greatest need is to be rightly related to God. Preaching and teaching the Word of God, bringing forth the ministry of Jesus by the Holy Spirit to save, heal and deliver is a major area of meeting human needs. The more we do to establish systems or provide resources to accomplish these things, the more we will reap.

2 Corinthians 9:6-12: But this I say: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: ‘He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness remains forever.’” Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.

Hebrews 6:10: For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

Becoming Better Managers

Who can meet more needs for mankind, the skilled or the unskilled, the diligent or the slothful, those with Godly wisdom or the unwise, the one who cares for others or the one who cares only for himself, the one who receives wise counsel or the one who listens only to himself, the one who labors or the one who talks idly? The one who meets more needs is making more deposits and subsequently will reap more from the Universal Bank in Heaven.

It is not necessary that men know the good we do. The return does not depend on men. It depends on God and His accounting and reward system in Heaven. We will be rewarded openly for using that which we have to meet the needs of others in secret. Prayer and fasting makes a deposit in the Bank of Heaven. Anything that meets human need, especially the needs of the brethren, makes a deposit.

Matthew 6:1-4,6,17-18: “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in Heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what you right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” “But you when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Giving to a person or an organization that is meeting human needs makes a deposit. Investing in a company that is meeting human needs makes a deposit.

The amount of return is based on the net value produced. It costs something to maintain our life and any system of endeavor. The net product is what is left of the value we added after subtracting the value that we consumed or used.

There is positive and negative sowing. If we do good to one person but take away from another, the value we added to mankind is lessened by the amount of negative we sowed. If we go out to help the world but offend our own children, we may take away as much or more than we deposited. The net value added to mankind is our deposit in the Bank of Heaven. If we have not been giving to God by adding value to mankind but have been consuming all God has placed into our hands, we have been robbing God – robbing the bank of heaven.

Malachi 3:8-9: “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

Jesus said that when we give to the brethren, we give to Him. We give to God by giving to others. Our gift to an organization is a gift to God only if the organization is meeting people’s needs.

Malachi is a transitional book. It is the last book of the Old Testament and in part speaks into the New Testament. The tithe was God’s instruction in the old covenant law that does not transcend into the kingdom. In the new covenant we, and all that we have in our hands are God’s. We are to administer it according to His instruction. In the time of the old covenant, they did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and empower their lives. Basic laws and rules and the words of the prophets were the Israelites primary forms of direction. There was no potential for them to all become priests and kings as in the new covenant. Rather, God appointed some to be priests and sent prophets to anoint some as kings.

In the kingdom our lives are about giving and serving God by serving His people. We are to be hearing and obeying God’s desire and direction as to how and where we give or serve. In so doing, our treasures are stored in heaven to be drawn upon as needed to provide for meeting more needs in obedience to God’s direction through the Holy Spirit.

There is no room in the kingdom for greed and covetous practices such as have perverted the ways of people, including many Christians, in past centuries. Failure and depletion of available provision comes from the disobedience of keeping back for ourselves what God has given us to invest in meeting needs, which is the business of kingdom management.

Keep on Pursuing Love
It Will Never Fail,

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Teaching, Training And Disciplining in the Christian Community

Posted: May 1, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
Tags: Christian life, discipleship, kingdom growth, Kingdom living, kingdom of darkness, radical christianity, Spirit led life

Teaching, Training And Disciplining in the Christian Community – By Dr. David Ryser

The western model of teaching and training is based in value being placed upon the dissemination of information. Knowledge, and by implication wisdom, is defined as a collection of a body of information. Relationship between the teacher and student is considered unimportant or even irrelevant.

However, even those shaped by this system instinctively know its shortcoming by remembering our best (and most effective) teachers as those with whom we had the strongest/closest relationship. What we call teaching (or training or education) the culture of the Bible called reasoning (Acts 17:2; 17:17; 18:4; 19 8, 9 to reference a few instances). Teaching/training, biblically, is relational and interactive (Luke 2:46, 47) When a child comes home from school in the typical American household, he/she is asked “Did you learn anything at school today”? whereas the Jewish child is more likely to be asked “Did you ask any good questions at school today”?).

There are numerous examples in the scriptures of people being trained to carry out the call of God for their lives, and they point to the centrality of relational teaching/training. Two such examples come readily to mind. The first is the training of Joshua by Moses. Joshua was trained to take leadership of Israel for more than forty years, by being with Moses observing, assisting, and serving. The second is the relationship between Elijah and Elisha.

Elijah was commanded by God to anoint Elisha as his successor. Although no implicit command to train Elisha for his ministry is given, Elijah takes Elisha into his home for some 15 years as Elisha observes, assists, and serves Elijah as his servant. This method of training is particularly remarkable in this case because there existed, and had existed since the time of Samuel, several “schools of the prophets” (cf 2 Kings 2:1-5) throughout Israel?and Elijah?s successor came from none of these.

This relational teaching/training model continued to develop during the exile and intertestamental periods and was the basis for the rabbi-disciple relationship whereby the student would attach himself to a teacher not so much for the purpose of learning what the teacher knew as to become what the teacher was (Matthew 10:24, 25a; Luke 6:40). Jesus used this model as He chose 12 men to be with Him in ministry, intending to turn over His ministry to them upon His departure.

These were not mere followers, Jesus had over 500 of those (1 Corinthians 15:6), but men chosen to be with Him and learn by observing, assisting, and serving Him. Even within the group of 12, there were 3 whom Jesus was more intimate with and who were privileged to see and do more than the others and to relate with Jesus at a higher/deeper level.

This relational model continues through the remainder of the New Testament. Paul trains the younger members of his ministry team, Titus and Timothy being the most notable examples, though there were others as well (Colossians 4:7-14 as well as Aquila and Priscilla) – as they accompany him during the time of his ministry and observe, assist, and serve him. There are other examples; for example, Mark had two such relationships (with Barnabas and Peter) during his time of training for ministry.

And this model of teaching/training is not restricted solely to raising up ministries, but is also utilized in the raising up of disciples by more mature disciples (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 3:13; 10:25; 1 Peter 5:5a) as the people of God speak into one another’s lives. Doing this effectively requires relationship, and the level of effectiveness is determined by the intimacy of the relationship.

To sum up, the biblical model of teaching/training can best be described by the word mentoring. This requires the mentor and those being mentored to be in relationship; which requires, among other things, those in this relationship to spend time together so as the student observes, assists, and serves the mentor, then questions and answers – and thus teaching/training takes place in context. This method should be in place at every level of Church life from Disciplining new converts to maturing believers and training leaders (even in a school of ministry) with the goal of instructing, enabling, empowering, utilizing, and releasing giftings and ministries. Just as Jesus attempted to duplicate Himself in His followers, a pattern perpetuated by His disciples, so the Church seeks to duplicate the character of Jesus (modeled by the mentor) and pass on passion for Him and a vision for establishing His kingdom to those being discipled.

OUR DISPOSITION AT THE ALTAR WILL AFFECT OUR POSITION IN THE KINGDOM

Posted: April 30, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
Tags: discipleship, kingdom growth, Kingdom life, Kingdom living, radical christianity, Spirit led life

OUR DISPOSITION AT THE ALTAR WILL AFFECT OUR POSITION IN THE KINGDOM

Don Atkin
http://www.DonAtkin.com

· Present your bodies a living sacrifice.
· Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Forty years ago, I knew EVERYTHING. Thirty years ago, I knew MOST things. Twenty years ago, I knew SOME things. Ten years ago, I knew VERY LITTLE. Today, I’m with Paul:

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

For me, decreasing so that Jesus might increase in me has been a lifelong challenge. Whatever the question, I was the answer (at least in my mind). I am so thankful for those dear, patient saints who put up with me during those early years.

I specifically remember * (almost thirty years ago) being part of a local group of ministers who met together for fellowship and prayer each week. I always had the answers—until, one day, when the Holy Spirit was ready to discipline me about ruling my own spirit.

He who rules his own spirit is better than he who takes a city.
I already had visions of “taking cities.” But was still very carnal—earthbound—in how that was to be accomplished. The school of the Spirit was opening (for me) for a new session. I had my first assignment: “I want you to remain silent for four of these weekly meetings, beginning today.”
Someone asked, “Where does the Bible say _______________________?” I immediately responded with book, chapter and verse. Conviction enveloped me. I was GUILTY to the max! “Oh, Father. Please forgive me! “No problem, My son. Your four weeks can begin next week.” BTW, I was wrong in the Scripture I referenced, adding to my humiliation.

It took me seven painful weeks to learn this lesson. Ruling our spirits is a primary governmental (kingdom) essential. By so doing we are able to rightly steward divine truth, the mysteries of the kingdom.

The high road that leads toward the oneness of the body of Christ is paved with sincere humility and navigated by diligence and discipline. By the grace of God, I am what I am.

Jesus—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world–has been, is now, and will be forever, the foundation of our gospel and the Head of His body, the church. This has been, is now, and will be forever, the Seed of eternal truth. “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”—I AM, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

JESUS, THE PRESENT PERFECT LAMB
Let’s look to Jesus in the present perfect tense. His sacrificial death was a reality in the mind of eternal God from the foundation of the world. God was not surprised by Adam’s fall or Israel’s failure.
Provision had already been written into the schematics of God’s master plan for His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The time/space limitations of our humanity have been swallowed up into the context of God’s eternal personhood. Jesus—current fix for all generations—reaches both backward and forward from Calvary’s cross, to draw those who believe unto eternal life in Him.

The bronze altar in the Outer Court of Moses’ Tabernacle was a type and shadow of the cross/crucifixion. The cross of Calvary was Jesus’ springboard to victory, the appropriate prototype for all mankind.

Our cross is the ante-type, and our springboard to victory!

“And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him.”

OUR POSTURE ON THE CROSS DETERMINES OUR POSITION IN CHRIST!

There’s a whole lot of mocking going on! There’s a whole lot of unfinished business in the church! The way to royalty is through the cross. When leaders step away from the cross to judge and criticize brethren or to quibble over paradigms, they leave their crowns on the mercy seat.

The only recourse or remedy is to return to the mercy seat through repentance, and in the hope of having the plank removed from our own eyes. This is the only way that we might be renewed in hope, and graced once again to obey the new commandment—that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

LOVE KEEPS US NEAR THE CROSS!
Above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.

First priority—above all things—most of all—be proactive in sustaining fervent love for one another. Do so as if your life depends upon it.

The resources are available (in resurrection life) for us to obey in faith and to find our delight in releasing this love among one another. Love has taken up permanent residence in us, and is always available to fill the place we give Him. We are without excuse.

Jesus will meet us at the cross, be with us in dying to self, and bring us forth into newness of life. He is the way, the truth and the life—the access to the Father. If we want to be in Him and have Him in us in resurrection power, then we must meet Him in the cross. Authentic spiritual service precludes any other options.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

TOSSED, BLOWN AND IMMATURE
The bronze altar (typifying humanity) is immediately available to us in the outer court. We leave all of our human judgments and other limitations there on the altar, by faith, and move into the Holy Place, where the Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us. It is there in the enlightened realm of the Holy Place that we find our particular identity and placement in Him, ala the golden table of shewbread.

Whenever we step out of that place (backslide) and begin again to judge others, we are no longer in the flow of the Spirit. We’ve once again put off Christ, and clothed ourselves with filthy rags. We have chosen to arm ourselves with the strength of our own flesh.

We have returned to the dung heap, forsaking gold, silver and precious stones, and are building with wood, hay and straw.

Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it (the foundation—Christ) endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

A PLEA TO ELDERS AND EQUIPPERS, FATHERS AND MASTER BUILDERS
There is a huge weight upon us; a stricter judgment awaits us.
It is good (not) to do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Perhaps our highest service to our King, perhaps our greatest devotion to our Father, is our example to the flock of God. People need to see love in our actions and hear love in what we speak.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Where there are brethren, fellowship them.
Where there are issues, deal with them. (Wisdom is ours for the asking.)
Where there are problems, solve them. (God has the solutions we need.)
Where there are differences, embrace them. (God is not finished with us yet.)

We need to back into our brothers’ tents with blankets, and cover their nakedness! Moreover, we should make tunics and linen trousers to cover their (our brothers’) nakedness, so that when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die.

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Walk in the Spirit – Walk with Christ

Posted: April 29, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness

Many believers today desire and need more of the powerful, supernatural life of Christ in their lives. In the near future we may have even greater desire and need of increased supernatural guidance of God. The “day of the Lord” is coming against all that lifts itself against God (Isa 13:6-9).

In biblical history there have been many “day of the Lord” interventions of God. The “day of the Lord” is said to come against a people, tribe or nation for purifying God’s people through their repentance and turning to Him. Cleansing of the earth takes place as God’s people and those who will turn to Him are purified. A godly remnant always remains. Also the earth is cleansed by the destruction of the wicked, ungodly people, tribes and nations who will not turn to God. In all of the “day of the Lord” events recorded in scripture cleansing is involved for His people and destruction for the ungodly people and all they have built. (For more on “the day of the Lord” see Chapter 8 of “The Seventh Millennium” free download book. For more on fiery judgments study Chapter 7)

In the coming season of worldwide turbulent conditions caused by corrective and earth-cleansing works of God, it will be important to accurately hear and obey the intimate communication of our Lord by the Spirit. The righteous will want to accurately hear and follow the leading of the Lord by His Spirit in all areas of life and business. It will be important to be in the right place at the right time both spiritually and naturally to fully receive the provisions of the Lord.

Continuous Abiding

At Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit descended like a dove on Him and remained. Never before had the Holy Spirit permanently and continuously abode with anyone. Before Christ, the Spirit came upon people and empowered them for special purposes for a season. God often sent angels as messengers, and with a few such as Moses, He met with them personally apart from the rest of the people. However, not since before Adam fell has God permanently dwelled with anyone until Christ Jesus.

When Christ Jesus walked upon the earth in the Spirit, a number of disciples walked with Him as He went from place to place doing the works of God by the Holy Spirit. As the disciples followed Christ Jesus on His journeys and ministries, they followed the leadership of God in Him and observed the empowerment of God flowing through Christ. They also heard His words of heavenly wisdom and supernatural knowledge and understanding as He spoke and creation obeyed. When He sent them out alone and breathed the Spirit on them, they also were empowered to do the works of God.

Walking With Jesus

Every born-again, Spirit-filled child of God has the potential to walk in the Spirit and thereby walk with Christ Jesus in this life now. Every person reading this has before them the opportunity to be truly re-birthed as a new spiritual creation to walk with Christ Jesus in the Spirit observing Him do the works of God and speak powerful creative words of heavenly wisdom into the world. The potential reality of walking in the Spirit with the abiding Spirit of Christ within us is even more intimate than the disciples walking with Christ in His earthly body. Jesus was with the disciples, but after His spiritual return in the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, He was in them just as He had promised them. Yet, He was still bodily seated at the throne of God.

John 14:17-20: “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

The Spirit of the Lord dwelling in His people is the confident expectation of the glory of God on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God potential is now dwelling within His people on earth. A generation is being formed that will live by the Spirit to walk in the Spirit carrying the reality of Christ in their mortal bodies to do the will and works of God on earth as it is in heaven. A generation is being transformed as we see the glory of the Lord within and manifest before us. The glory of the Lord is seen in one another as the Spirit of the Lord manifests His life among us.

2 Cor 3:18: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Gal 5:25: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Christ Our Leader and King

Our lives are to be completely bowed before Him. Our independent self-life is never to arise again. It is the resurrected life of Christ Jesus that arises within us to stand strong and mighty with all love and assurance of peace and all power, humbly administrated to bring peace and goodwill toward mankind and Planet Earth. The people of God will see the glory of the Lord even as the fire of God dissolves all that lifts itself against God.

The light of God shall shine forth upon and through the mature sons of God and all who completely bow their lives to the King, even while deep darkness of cataclysmic fiery earth-cleansing judgments are upon the earth.

Isa 60:1-2: Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

No earthly man can lead us through this coming season of both worldwide turmoil and glory of God at the same time. Christ Jesus will lead us by His Spirit within and among us. True apostolic and prophetic people, gifted with a mature abundance of Christ Jesus manifesting in their lives, will help with foundational leadership. Every child of God must build upon the foundation with their lives in complete obedience to the Spirit of Christ within themselves.

Christ in us is not only the hidden mystery of the confident expectation of glory; it is also the light of the world. Follow the light of Christ within and in the God-sent apostolic and prophetic leaders. Do not follow any man or system that is not the light of Christ. We will know the difference only if our self-life is totally bowed before Christ Jesus and His resurrection life has arisen within us.

If we continue to have any amount of trust in systemized religion or secular ungodly men and their teachings, we will be not recognize the God-sent, light-bearing leaders. We will not have the clear light of the risen life of Christ within. We will be deceived and suffer swift chastening and must quickly repent and bow only to the Lord and King Christ Jesus.

God is raising up a new generation of kingdom leaders.

Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends.

Ron McGatlin

http://www.openheaven.com
basileia@earthlink.net

Peace: Freedom from Fear, Anxiety and Worry: The Rest in Yahweh …

Posted: April 27, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
Tags: Bride of Christ, emotionally wounded, God's love, Kingdom living, love, peace of God, Yeshua

Do we have peace in our hearts or does fear, worry and anxiety grip our heart relentlessly? Can we have wonderful peace in our hearts even during these troubled times? God in His goodness promises peace so let’s examine in more depth this awesome promise from the Bible. The fourth characteristic of the goodness of God revealed in the covenant redemptive names of Yahweh is set forth in the book of Judges.

Judges 6:11-16 (American Standard Version):

And the angel of Yahweh came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of Yahweh appeared unto him, and said unto him, Yahweh is with thee thou mighty man of valor.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? but now Yahweh hath cast us off and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites.

And Yahweh looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand from the hand of the Midian: have I not sent thee?

And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the poorest in Mannaseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

And Yahweh said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

Joshua had successfully led the children of Israel into the promised land of Canaan and instructed them before His death. He advised them to love the Lord God and know in their heart and soul that not one good thing that God had spoken concerning them had failed to come to pass. He told them to cleave unto the Lord and serve Him with sincerity and truth, and warned them of the consequences of serving other gods. Joshua wrote all these words in the book of the law of God and made a covenant with Israel that they chose to serve Yahweh. He sealed this covenant with a great stone that he set under an oak tree as a witness to Israel of their promise to God. After Joshua died, it was not long before Israel forsook the Lord, forgot this convent, and began to serve Baal, Ashtaroth, and other gods of the surrounding nations. This dramatically weakened Israel spiritually as a nation, and they could no longer stand against their enemies. When Israel became greatly distressed and cried out to the Lord, He would send a judge to deliver them from the hand of their oppressors. But once the judge died, they fell back into running after false gods to serve and worship them.

In Judges chapter 6, Israel had forsaken the Lord again and pursued their evil way of life, cleaving unto the powerless gods of their enemies. This new generation of Israelites had forgotten that only the Lord was Yahweh Jireh, who provided for every one of their needs; that only the Lord was Yahweh-Rapha who healed them in every way, and that only the Lord was Yahweh-Nissi, who brought them victory and protection from their enemies. The Midianites rose up and gained a stronghold in their country and oppressed Israel for seven years. Midian and her allies, which included the Amalekites, swarmed like locusts down on Israel with great hordes of men and animals and destroyed their crops and animals, bringing great impoverishment on Israel. The Israelites were hiding in dens and caves in great fear of their lives, without food and supplies to survive. They cried out in desperation to the Lord again and in great mercy and love, He moved greatly to help His people and reveal to them another magnificent aspect of his goodness.

God sent His angel to seek out a very simple man from a poor background to deliver His people from a massive and powerful enemy who was laying waste to the promised land of Israel. At that time, Gideon was hiding in the winepress, threshing some wheat so he could eat and survive. Yet God had other plans for Gideon, as He sent his angel to announce to him the awesome things He was going to do in his life and for his country. God called Gideon “a mighty man of valor” and “a valiant warrior” as God saw Gideon for what He would become when Yahweh worked in his life. God saw Gideon’s potential as a victorious warrior, a fearless leader and a future judge of Israel. God took a man who was behind closed doors in fear and exalted him to the position of valiant warrior, giving him the privilege to lead God’s people into victory and peace.

Judges 6:22-24 (American Standard Version):

And Gideon saw that he was the angel of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, O Lord Yahweh! for as much as I have seen the angel of Yahweh face to face.

And Yahweh said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built and altar there unto Yahweh and called it Yahweh-Shalom: unto his day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon finally accepted the call of God on his life and built an altar calling it Yahweh-Shalom, which means “the Lord our peace.” God showed him that he can have peace, even in the midst of life’s most difficult circumstances. The fourth characteristic of the goodness of God revealed in His name is peace. In Hebrew, the word for peace, shalom, means: wholeness, completeness and soundness; it’s a harmony and unity of heart and soul because of a restored relationship with God, our Father; it is an inward and outward tranquility, a quiet assurance and a complete well-being where nothing is lacking or broken.

Peace is the symphony and harmony of life, in which you enjoy all that is good because of your right relationship with God. It’s the freedom from being disturbed, agitated, stressed and troubled. It is the absence of discord, strife, and anxiety. It is to be at ease and calmly unaffected by circumstance. Peace is the highest measure of contentment, joyfulness, happiness, and satisfaction in life. There is absolute security, safety, and victory at the center of peace. It is the absence of inward conflict, condemnation, and torment, but rather a state of rest, calmness, and quiet confidence.

True peace is oneness and complete unity with Yahweh-Shalom, where there is a wonderful mutual sharing of the enjoyment of that bond and relationship. Yahweh-Shalom is the origin and source of all peace and we have and enjoy peace because of our relationship and oneness with Him. His peace is our peace. His wholeness is our wholeness. His soundness is our soundness. His completeness is our completeness. No man or woman can ever have peace without a vibrant, living fellowship and right relationship with Yahweh-Shalom.

You can’t buy peace, you can’t medicate peace, and you cannot manufacture peace. You cannot produce peace from some mental gymnastic exercise or self-help book or seminar. It is impossible to have peace apart from Yahweh-Shalom. There is and never will be true peace for the unbeliever.

Isaiah 57:19-21 (New Living Translation):

I will comfort those that mourn bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far, says the Lord, who
heals them. But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.

There is no peace for the wicked, says my God.

Isaiah 59:8 (NIV):

The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them
will know peace.

To the unbeliever who rejects Yahweh-Shalom, his life will be like a troubled, restless sea. There is no calmness, no rest, no quietness, and no tranquility of heart and soul to those hostile toward God Almighty and His goodness. Picture in your mind a rough and raging sea, as the waves crash all around and the sea rises violently up and down, churning up all the muck and mire of its bottom. This is a vivid illustration of the heart of someone who does not know Yahweh-Shalom. His heart is a continual state of unrest and instability, tossed around by the raging waves of circumstances, troubles, and problems, contaminated by the muck and mire of sin. But when a man or woman turns to God and gives their heart and soul to Him, Yahweh-Shalom brings comfort, rest, healing, and abundant peace, as He calms the furious seas of a person’s soul.

The peace of God is where the stillness, calmness, and quietness of God reign unbroken and undisturbed. Picture a beautiful serene lake that is perfectly still with only a gentle breeze and crystal clear water. The lake is calm and tranquil, with the sun glistening off the waters. This is a vivid illustration of the heart and soul of someone who has the peace of Yahweh-Shalom in their life. Yahweh-Shalom is the way of peace, as He provides the direction and road to travel in life, in order to accomplish His purposes and have abundant, cleansing peace.

The wicked follow a crooked path that only leads to frustration, anxiety, and unrest, as it never leads to peace. God wants us to know and experience His awesome peace from the morning sunrise until the evening ends. Nothing is more refreshing, healing, and exhilarating to experience than the peace of God.

Psalm 29:11(Amplified):

The Lord will give unyielding and impenetrable strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.

Isaiah 26:12 (New Revised Standard Version):

O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 (Amplified):

For I know the thoughts and plans I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace, and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

We, as God’s children, have the blessing of His peace, and He has ordained the path and way of peace for each believer’s life. God wants us to live and abide in His peace in everything we do. His refreshing peace should be a vital, living reality in our daily walk with Him. The peace of God should penetrate our thoughts and actions as we build our lives on the foundation of His peace.

Psalm 72:7 (God’s Word to the Nations):

May righteous people blossom in his day. May there be unlimited peace until the moon no longer shines.

Job 22:21: (New King James Version):

Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace. Thereby good will come to you.

God wants you, as His beloved son or daughter, to blossom and flourish in life like a beautiful flower, and be filled to overflowing with His unlimited peace. There is no boundary or limit to the peace of Yahweh-Shalom. God does not want a speck or a brief flurry of peace for you, but desires His boundless peace to permeate every fiber of your being. The peace of God should be our lifestyle and our way of living. We must acquaint ourselves with our Heavenly Father and build our intimate relationship with Him, in order to live and abide in His peace.

The word “acquaint” in the Hebrew means: to know intimately, to show harmony with, to cohabit with, to come home and to be familiar with. The essence of the word is to know and experience such a close and personal relationship with someone, that we cherish and treasure everything about it. God wants us to come to Him and know Him in an intimate, close, and harmonious relationship, where we feel completely at home in His presence. God wants us to cherish and love Him deeply, and as our relationship grows with Him, then our lives will be at peace and all the goodness of God will flourish in us. God’s goodness flows out of our union with Him. When we learn how to live and abide in His peace, then the goodness of God will be manifest in our thoughts and actions.

The goodness of God and the peace of God are intertwined companions and cannot be separated by any earthly circumstance or power. The peace of God rests on the foundation of His goodness.

Isaiah 26:3 (Amplified):

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.

Gibbs :

God keeps him in perfect peace whose mind is union with Him through loving trust.

When our mind is in union with God and we lean on Him, commit our way to Him, and believe confidently in Him, our lives will be in constant and perfect peace. The word “stayed” in the Hebrew means: to lay, support, lean and rest upon; to sustain and uphold.

What supports your thought life? What do you lean your mind on when times get tough? What do you rest your mind upon in your daily living? Our minds as Christians should be sustained, upheld, and supported by being intently focused on God and His Word.

The word “mind” in the Hebrew expresses the whole direction and attitude of one’s life. It is everything we fashion and form in our mind, which includes thoughts, purposes, desires, goals, ideas, considerations, and reflections. Everything we devise in our mind should rest and lean upon God. Our mind should be stayed, focused, and immersed in our loving Heavenly Father. The whole direction of our thoughts, actions, and desires should be firmly supported and established in God.

Then God will keep us in the center of His perfect peace. God guards and protects your peace when you are focused on Him, and nothing the world throws at you can rattle or disturb your peace. The words “perfect peace” are shalom, shalom and the doubling of the word emphasizes that it is an absolute truth that God has established; it is even more certain than any natural law like gravity. The word is doubled to show the abundance and completeness of his peace available to the believer who trusts and centers his mind on Him.

Romans 8:6(b) (KJV):

But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Psalm 119:165 (Amplified):

Great peace have they who love your law; nothing shall offend them or make them stumble.

Psalm 4:8 (Amplified):

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.

Life and peace abound in the life of a man or woman who has their thoughts focused on God and His Word. When we love God’s Word, meditate upon it, and hide it in our hearts, great abundant peace will flow through every part of us. Absolutely nothing in the world will cause us to stumble, for we are rooted and grounded in His peace. We have confident trust in the Lord and the complete safety and protection He provides, so every night we enjoy the sweet sleep of peace. Nothing disturbs us; nothing rattles us, and nothing agitates us, for we have His peace.

Psalm 55:18 (Amplified):

He has redeemed my life in peace from the battle that was against me [so that none came near me], for they were many who strove with me.

We can have the peace of Yahweh-Shalom overflowing in our heart in the midst of any battle we will ever face in life. No matter how difficult the circumstance or how hard the problem, we can train our mind and heart so that we live and abide in His peace. We have a quiet assurance and an inward tranquility for we rest in the loving arms of our Heavenly Father who protects, sustains, and shields from every harm, every attack, and every enemy.

Romans 5:1 (Amplified):

Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us grasp the fact
that we have (the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

No one can have the true peace of God in their life until they are reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation produces the restoration of a relationship of peace that had been disturbed and broken in the Garden of Eden by the high treason of Adam. Reconciliation is to change a relationship of hostility, enmity, and separation to a relationship of love, acceptance, admiration, and friendship. It is a relationship of peace and favor, as we are no longer at war with God or hostile to Him. There is no rejection, no condemnation, no guilt, and no unworthiness in this close, loving relationship. This relationship of peace is more than the mere absence of enmity or hostility, but the invitation from God to come into his presence and enjoy the closeness and loving bond of a relationship with Him.

The peace of God is the legal right and possession of every born again believer. We HAVE peace with God. All the barriers have been abolished between you and God. There is no friction, no uneasiness, no conflict, and no obstruction in this new relationship of peace. It is a complete harmony and unity with Yahweh-Shalom. The word “peace” in the Greek means: to bind or join together what is broken or divided, setting the broken parts as one again. When the broken parts come together, there is nothing between them that would stop the cohesion that has taken place. Once they are joined together they are one, never to be separated again. It holds better than super glue, because they will never come apart. True peace is complete oneness and unity with God where there is a mutual enjoyment of the wonderful relationship of a Father with His children.

The Greek word also carries with it the meaning of the absence or end of strife and denotes a state of untroubled, undisturbed well-being. The word “with” in the Greek means: toward and is an indication of closeness or nearness and could be translated ‘facing’. We stand in God’s presence justified and freed from the penalty of sin, completely made righteous and redeemed with unlimited access to our Heavenly Father, because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. We have made lovely and acceptable in Christ Jesus and gaze face to face into the loving presence of our God, having complete peace and oneness with Him.

We are in Him, and He is in us, and in this oneness we have His peace as a permanent possession, because of who we are in Christ. His peace is a part of us, just as much as an arm or leg is part of our physical body. We don’t have to ask God for peace because we already have it. He has given to us all the peace of God to hold and enjoy every moment of our lives. We renew our minds by faith and confess this great sonship right of peace to bring it into manifestation in our lives. We do not want the peace of God to remain dormant in us, but we want to activate it by believing, so it is a living reality in every circumstance of life

What a wonderful truth and message about the peace of God, as it is so magnificent that God calls it the “gospel of peace” in Romans 10:15. The good news of peace that Jesus Christ brings should be declared from every mountain top to every valley, to every city, and to every town. We should just stand in awe of how breathtaking the goodness of God is as He has given us His peace that can never be disturbed, agitated, or broken.

Jesus Christ is the way, truth, and the life to the peace of God. It cannot be found or discovered anywhere else. It does not originate in the mind of man or in some philosophy, religion, or way of thinking. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, according to Isaiah 9:6, and the word “prince” in the Hebrew means: ruler, prince, chief, captain and leader. Jesus Christ is the captain, the chieftain, the ruler, and prince of the peace of God. If you want the peace of God to rule and reign in your life, you must come to its only Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace of God is only available in, through, and by Him.

Luke 1:78,79 (New Living Translation):

Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven (Jesus Christ) is about to break upon us. To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.

Ephesians 2:14(a) (Wuest):

For He (Jesus Christ) himself is our peace…

When you examine this verse in Ephesians in the Greek, the emphasis is on the intensive pronoun autos which means, “He and no other.” In his Word Studies of the Greek New Testament, Wuest states that there is even a deeper meaning from the Greek and that this verse suggests:

Not only “He alone” but “He in His own Person” made peace. It was not only that peace was made by Christ and ranks as His achievement, but that it is so identified with Him that were He away, it would also fail-so dependent on Him that apart from Him we cannot have it.

Without Jesus Christ, there is no peace of God available to any man, woman or child upon the earth. Jesus Christ is the light of the world that delivers us from the power of darkness and guides us to the path of peace. The peace of Yahweh-Shalom is absolutely dependent upon what Jesus Christ did at Calvary, for it required His sacrifice on the cross and God raising Him from the dead to restore the peace of God lost by Adam in the Garden of Eden. We cannot enjoy and experience this peace unless we are a new creation in Christ; otherwise peace is a fleeting illusion. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed for our peace.

Colossians 1:20 (NIV):

And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Isaiah 53:5 (English Standard Version):

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

The punishment that Jesus endured on the cross was for our peace. He paid the penalty of our sin, and as our Savior, brought us into harmony and oneness with God, where we can rest in and enjoy the wholeness of His peace. Our peace was bought and paid for by the blood of Christ and sealed with an eternal covenant that guarantees peace as part of our eternal inheritance. You are identified and share in everything He accomplished at Calvary, for Christ is in you and you are in Christ. He is a part of you and lives and abides with you always. We can experience as a living reality the same peace Jesus had when he walked on the earth.

John 14:27 (Amplified):

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be
agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

John 16:33 (Amplified):

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Jesus Christ gave us His perfect peace, and this is the same peace Jesus had in quality, richness, and measure. It is the peace Jesus had in the midst of a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the angry crowd at the synagogue in Nazareth, in His quiet prayer times on the mountainside, and in the middle of the hurling accusations of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The heart of Jesus was absolute perfect calmness, even in the midst of the most raging circumstance or challenge. It was a place where no trouble or agitation could penetrate or disturb, and where the stillness and quietness of God reigned unbroken. It was a peace that came from the bond of unity He has with His Heavenly Father, and the harmony and intimacy of that relationship.

The word “give” in verse 27 in the Greek means: to give freely and unforced; to deliver, supply, and commit. Jesus freely and without hesitation supplied, committed, and delivered to us in love His wonderful, awesome peace. It is not a counterfeit outward peace that the world offers, which is unstable, fleeting, and temporary. It was His peace that He lived, breathed, and walked in every moment of His earthly ministry.

The world “troubled” in verse 27 in the Greek means: to stir up, to agitate as water in a pool, to disturb with various emotions, to disquiet and make restless, to cause inward commotion and to take away one’s calmness of mind. The word “be afraid” in the Greek means: to be timid, to be cowardly, and to shrink back in fear.” Both of these verbs are in the passive voice in the Greek, which means the heart is being acted upon by an outside force or power and is the receiver of the verbal action. We are to stop allowing outside influences to disturb, agitate, and trouble our heart, for we have the same peace of God that reigned in the life of Jesus. Jesus Christ never became agitated, restless, or disturbed inwardly, no matter what was happening around him. Even as he hung on the cross for hours in pain and agony, his heart was at complete peace. He did not allow circumstances, people, or relationships to steal His peace.

There will be tribulations, trials, and frustrations thrown at you while you live in the world, but it never need disturb or agitate your inner calmness and peace. In Christ we have perfect peace and confidence, for our Savior overcame every circumstance and power in the world and deprived it of its power to harm us. His complete victory at Calvary gave us his peace so that we can be more than conquerors both inwardly and outwardly in every situation. We never have to shrink back in fear from any person, influence, problem, or circumstance, for we are His and He is ours and we have the peace of God living in our hearts. It is like a ship’s chronometer, which remains perfectly motionless in the midst of the most tumultuous rocking and raging of the sea, and maintains its perfect level when the ship is plunging and careening in every direction. The peace of God in our heart is our chronometer that allows us to be perfectly calm and tranquil, even in the midst of a tempest sea of circumstance and the raging waves of the negativity and fears of this age.

Philippians 4:6,7: (Wuest):

Stop perpetually worrying about even one thing, but in everything by prayer whose essence is that of worship and devotion and by supplication which is a cry for your personal needs, with thanksgiving let your requests for the things asked for be made known in the presence of God. And the peace of God which surpasses all power of comprehension shall mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Phillips Translation:

Don’t worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer. And the peace of God which transcends human understanding, will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as they rest in Christ Jesus.

We need never worry or be anxious about any circumstance or problem we face, for we have a Heavenly Father to whom we can take every need and difficulty to in prayer. In the Greek, the word “worry” describes the state of the mind of being pulled apart and divided by anxious cares and worries. It is characterized by an extreme uneasiness of the mind and a brooding fear about something, and emphasizes a fear of misfortune, failure, disappointment, and disaster. Worry denotes a lack of focus and trust in God and an endless running of the mind in all directions. God says instead of worrying or being anxious, bring the problem to Him in earnest and thankful prayer. We should worry about nothing and pray about everything. That is the lifestyle of the believer.

The word “prayer” in the Greek means: a prayer to God of worship, adoration, and devotion remembering His character, His attributes, His names, His goodness, and who He is. It is a prayer where our heart is focused on His greatness and majesty. It is a prayer where our heart remembers all the great qualities of the goodness of God and overflows with thankfulness. It is from this heart of love that we make specific detailed requests for our personal needs and the needs of others. Then God promises that His awesome, wonderful peace will mount and keep constant guard over our hearts and minds as we rest in our union in Christ Jesus. No fear, no worry, and no anxiety can penetrate and disturb our heart or mind, for the peace of God is guarding our heart.

The word “guard” in the Greek was a military term for the guarding of a city by a military garrison that kept constant watch to protect and secure the city from the hostile invasion of any enemy. This peace of God protects and guards our heart like a military garrison, keeping it calm, tranquil, and without agitation from any outside influence. When we love God with all our heart, seek Him in prayer in all of life’s situations, and walk in our sonship rights and privileges in Christ Jesus, the peace of God will overflow in our heart and act as a strong barrier against every fiery dart of the wicked one. The peace of God is the impenetrable barrier, the unbreakable wall, and the protective watchtower against every device of the devil designed to distract and divide our mind from serving the one true God. The peace of God enables us to live above the fear and anxiety of the world and enjoy our reconciliation with our Heavenly Father, even when the terror of this age rages around us.

Romans 16:20 (English Standard Version):

And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. .

Wuest:

And the God of the peace will trample Satan under your feet soon.

Yahweh-Shalom is the God of THE PEACE, and He will crush and trample Satan and all his influences under our feet, because His peace lives and reigns in our heart. The word “crush” in the Greek means: to break in pieces, to shiver, to tread down, to be perplexed and in anguish, to tear one’s body and shatter one’s strength, and to trample on as a conqueror.” When we are in harmony and fellowship with the God of peace and allowing Him to direct our lives in the center of peace, every satanic power, every satanic bondage, every satanic anxiety and every satanic fear, is utterly broken in pieces and shattered by the God of peace. There is nothing that perplexes and causes anguish to the devil more than seeing a born again believer walk and live in the peace of God. Satan cannot rattle, disturb, agitate and control a child of God, who enjoys and claims their sonship right of peace. The peace of God allows us to live with Satan utterly trampled and tread down under our feet. If you want to crush the negative influence of Satan, then you must live, move, and breathe in the peace of God.

Colossians 3:15 (Wuest):

And the peace of Christ, let it be acting as umpire in your hearts, into which also you were called into one body. And be constantly thankful persons.

The peace of Christ should be the foundation of every decision we make in life. This peace should be the umpire in our heart determining the direction in which we choose to walk. I love the game of baseball, and umpires are an important part of the game. The umpire determines whether a pitch is a ball or strike, whether a player is safe or out, and whether a ball is fair or foul. They enforce the rules and make the calls, unruffled by managers or players. The umpire settles differences when there is a conflict in thought and opinion. The outcome of the game is often determined by the call of the umpire.

When we are in harmony and fellowship with God and walking by the spirit, the wonderful peace of Christ will settle every difficulty, resolve every conflict, and enlighten every decision. The peace of Christ will show us what the will of God is in every choice we have in life. The peace of God not only guards our heart, but it guides our heart into the paths that God has chosen for us. The peace of God allows us to move into every situation with total poise and calmness, not upset or perturbed, because we know the God of peace. Every born again believer in the body of Christ has been called to peace, and the peace of Yahweh-Shalom should be a vibrant, living reality in our lives.

II Thessalonians 3:16 (NIV):

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

Amplified:

Now may the Lord of peace Himself grant you His peace (the peace of His kingdom) at all times and in all ways [under all circumstances and conditions, whatever comes]. The Lord [be] with you all.

What a wonderful relationship of peace and wholeness we can enjoy with our Lord, where nothing is broken or lacking. We have the great benefit and blessing of peace, where we are in complete unity with Him and have an inner tranquility and calmness that is unaffected by circumstance. At all times and in all ways, no matter the problem, condition, or circumstance, the Lord has given us His peace to guard and guide our hearts. No trouble, no fear, and no worry can disturb the heart of peace. What an awesome characteristic of the goodness of God-His peace which He has given to every person who has been reconciled to Him through Christ. The Lord of peace lives in our heart, and nothing is more refreshing, more exciting, and more exhilarating than to experience His peace every moment of our lives.

Posted by: goodnessofgod2010

Excerpt from “The Magnificent Goodness of God and How it Will Transform Your Life” by Tim Rowe

Radical Disciples – A Remnant Revolution

Latest Posts

Categories

Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

Little Compromises

The True Gospel

Go to the Cross

KINGDOM LIGHT

Sin no more!

UNIVERSAL RECIPROCITY

Teaching, Training And Disciplining in the Christian Community

OUR DISPOSITION AT THE ALTAR WILL AFFECT OUR POSITION IN THE KINGDOM

Walk in the Spirit – Walk with Christ

Peace: Freedom from Fear, Anxiety and Worry: The Rest in Yahweh …