SHINE ON ME

God’s glory is radiant light: He “covers Himself with light as with a garment”, “dwelling in unapproachable light.” God reveals bits of Himself, His nature, to us; we only know God through these self manifestations. The importance of glory as a manifestation of God is attested to by 430 scriptures. God’s radiant brilliance -- His unchanging essence, the inner reality that makes God who He is -- may be a physical manifestation of His nature. “God is love.”  Perhaps the deep passion of His agape love for us is expressed and released as brilliant, glorious light. Perhaps love is the intrinsic glory of God, His covering and His dwelling place. And perhaps the fullness of His love in us will likewise express itself as glorious light... a beacon of light to a world in darkness. Or, said another way, perhaps we are reflectors of His glory as His agape love flows through us.

Endnote: Let’s go deeper. Moses desired to see God’s glory, the inner reality which makes God who He is: “And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He (God) said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you.” God clearly equated His glory with His goodness in this passage. So, perhaps His glory is a physical manifestation of His goodness… perhaps goodness is the intrinsic glory of God. Perhaps God’s unchanging essence – the inner reality that makes God who He is -- is His goodness. And, He loves because He is good, not the other way around, love springing forth naturally out of a good heart. I may need to ponder this a few million years…

(Exodus 33:18-19)

Come shine on me Father, shine on me! Let Your goodness and love be my intrinsic glory as I reflect Your goodness and love on others. 

REPENTANCE

The New Testament concept of repentance is derived from the marriage of the Greek meta – a change of place or condition – with noeo – to exercise the mind, think, comprehend -- forming metanoeo, to repent, change the mind. We must distinguish between the classical Greek usage of metanoeo, which had no moral content, and the scriptural usage where the context is typically moral/sin. Theologically, metanoeo involves regret and/or sorrow accompanied by a true change of heart toward God. We see Jesus in Matt. 11:20-24 condemning the cities that had seen His great works and had not repented, tying repentance to “sackcloth and ashes”, remorse, and a lack of repentance to eternal judgment, the penalty for sin, etc.  In repentance there has to be a turning from and a turning to, just as when one changes their mind it has to change from something to something, or it’s not really changed but just something is added with nothing replaced. This is seen most clearly in scripture where repent is coupled with “convert”, the Greek epistrepho, which means “to turn to.”  Acts 3:19: “Repent and be converted…” Acts 26:20: “Repent, turn to God…”, where “turn to” translates epistrepho. Notice that repentance comes first in these passages: We must first change our mind about the world and our sinful nature before we can truly turn to God.

The O.T. Hebrew verb nacham is translated to repent, to comfort, and to relent, taking its meaning from the context. In a majority of the verses where nacham is translated repent, it is God who is the one who repents. So, repentance is more of a Grace thing than a Law thing. 

True repentance without tears is a rare thing, not impossible, but highly improbable. And, if I turn to God without turning from sin, I fall headlong into First John where habitual sin will choke/smother God’s word working in my life. Thankfully, repentance is a process: Many of the usages of repent are in the present imperative active, a command involving continuous action into the future, Matt. 4:17 for example, and God is very patient. But we should remember the Sower Parable, in particular the thorn bushes, where the desire for riches and the pleasures of this life “choked” (Luke’s term for drowning) the word of God. Repentance must be maintained, the turning away and turning to steadfast to overcome the temptations of the world.

I love the thought of turning toward God for this is where righteousness comes into play.  God makes us “the righteousness of God in Him” (Jesus). Isn’t that awesome! Sinless in God’s eyes, not perfect, not spiritually mature yet, still in reality filthy rags, but sinless in His eyes. This is so He can work in us, “willing and doing of His good pleasure in us”, maybe getting rid of our old nature bit by bit, so He doesn’t kill us in the process. God is good.

“REPENT THEREFORE AND BE CONVERTED,

THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE BLOTTED OUT,

SO THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME

FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD”

KNOW: THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP CONNECTION

In many places in the New Testament the word “know” is used to carry a relationship connection between God/Jesus and man.  The Greek word the Holy Spirit consistently chose in these passages is “ginosko” which means intimate relationship gained through experience, and carries the sense of personal fellowship with God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit in many passages.  Here are a few examples from the Apostle John’s writings:

* The good shepherd knows His sheep and is known by them (Jn. 10:14).

* My Father (God) knows me (Jesus) and even so I (Jesus) know the Father (Jn. 10:15).

* But you know Him (The Holy Spirit), for He dwells with you and shall be in you (Jn.14:17).

* At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you (Jn.14:20).

* And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).

* Now we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.  If we say that we   know Him and do not keep His commands, we are a liar.  But if we keep His word, His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we are in Him (1 Jn. 2:3-5).

* By this we know love because He laid down His life for us (1 Jn. 3:16).

* By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (1 Jn. 3:24).

* Beloved let us love one another for God is of love; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 Jn. 4:7).

“I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).  Jesus will say this on the Day of Judgment to many who do works in His name but lack relationship with Him.  It is oh so important to recognize this relational dynamic the Bible clearly teaches. 

“AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH”…

“IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS”

There are 1050 commands (total count with some repetition noted) in the New Testament for Christians to follow. They cover every phase of man’s life in his relationship to God and his fellowmen, both now and hereafter. These commandments, if obeyed, will greatly enrich our earth-life, producing godliness while preparing us for forever with our Lord. They are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments nor the Law of Moses which were abolished in the New Covenant/New Testament, although it should be noted nine of the Ten Commandments were reintroduced in the New Testament as New Covenant commandments (Keeping the Sabbath day holy is the exception).  Following are some of the commandments found in the epistle of 1 John:

*Walk in the Light *Confess sin *Keep His commandments *Keep His words *Walk as He walked *Do not love the world *Do not sin *Practice righteousness *Love in deed and truth *Keep His commandments *Love God more than the world *Love one another *Spread the word throughout the world.

This is some of the “meaty stuff” we often gloss over. And, we must not forget the First and Second “Great Commandments” to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as we love our Self. When the New Testament speaks of keeping commandments, it is talking about these New Covenant commandments. Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15), establishing obedience as the truest measurement of our love for our Lord… the First and Greatest Commandment. Notice obedience is directly commanded three times in 1 John (Keep His commandments 2x, Keep His words). Stating the obvious, we must first know His commandments before we can obey them!

OBEDIENCE… 
THE TRUEST MEASUREMENT OF OUR LOVE

KILLING COWS

I find it both obvious and scriptural that Christians are not immune to nor exempt from the adversities of life, be it physical, financial, relational, or emotional. Trouble, difficulty, hardship and affliction are as prevalent among the saints as among non-Christian populations. Saints have no entitlement to escape what is clearly part of the curse from the fall of mankind – God’s judgment on mankind for disobedience -- any more than we can escape death, the curse’s ultimate penalty. Now it is true under Old Testament Law God’s covenant people, the Jews, were exempt from much of life’s adversity as long as they remained obedient to the Law. But this entitlement is covenant and people specific and was done away with by the Cross of Christ.

Adversity knows everyone’s address as Jesus clearly stated: “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.” The Greek word translated “difficult” here is likewise translated trouble, adversity, affliction, hardship and other “Bad” words. Yes, our way home to eternal life will be fraught with difficulties.

Many saints believe God wants believers to have their best life now – health and wealth -- and that He is no respecter of persons, implying an entitlement. When adversity strikes and things don’t work out they use cobbled up half-truths about the role of faith and sin to protect their sacred cow “beliefs.” Well... It’s time to kill some cows: The seven passages describing God as “no respecter of persons” deal, contextually, with Salvation, Judgment, and Rewards: It is in these and only these areas that God is no respecter of persons. And our “best life now” is the life that brings about our greatest degree of transformation -- conformation into the likeness of Christ -- regardless of the circumstances.  This transformation is the rich and glorious mystery of the New Covenant, “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

IT’S ALL ABOUT TRANSFORMATION

                                          

A FAVORITE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE FROM THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE: PHILIPPIANS 3:7-15

But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as one combined loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him -- of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, refuse and dregs, in order that I may win (gain) Christ The Anointed One.

And that I may actually be found and known as in Him, not having any self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own based on my obedience to the Law’s demands -- ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired -- but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ The Anointed One, the truly right standing with God which comes from God by saving faith.

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection, which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death. In the hope that if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body.

Not that I have now attained this ideal, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus The Messiah has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet; but one thing I do, it is my one aspiration: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

So let those of us who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also.

The Apostle Paul is describing the cost and rewards of deep intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship based on the priceless privilege of the indwelling Christ-Life. We must be found and known as in Him, and determined to really know Him. In intimate relationship we come to perceive, recognize and understand the wonders of His person, and come to know and experience the power outflowing from His resurrection. It is likewise in intimate relationship that we learn to share Christ’s sufferings -- submitting to His Lordship over our life and crucifying Self – that in submission and death we might be continually transformed into His likeness… His nature. Recognizing our imperfection we press on to lay hold of and make our own that for which Christ has laid hold of us and made us His own. Saints, we all must forget what lies behind and press on toward the goal, the supreme and heavenly prize into which God has called us… Christlikeness! This is really an astonishing passage give it was written by the Apostle Paul thirty plus years into his ministry while captive in a Roman prison.

CHURCH… AN ORGANIC BODY

Much of the twenty-first century church community is a man made mess, blind to its true reality, offering up Ishmael offerings to God as a form of Godliness. With more wrong than right the church is beyond the tipping point, and ill prepared for the great confrontations with the powers of darkness that lie ahead. We need to scrap the denominational protocols – man’s way of gathering together -- and search the New Covenant scriptures to learn how to become an organic body of believers living life as a real spiritual family here on planet earth. Church should be about:

*Equipping one another for the work of ministry… in the enemy’s camp, the world.

*Building the body of Christ… one stone at a time.

*Embracing the Lordship of Christ and the death of Self… releasing our Savior’s nature within.

*Embracing the suffering of our Lord… learning obedience God’s way.

*Learning corporate fellowship… Worship in Spirit and in truth.

*And, above all, loving one another.

These church elements are the mile-markers of every saint’s journey into Christlikeness, the number one thing on God’s heart. Having predestined us as His “sons” He must make us fit for “Sonship.” Scripture commands we “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” – clothe our Self in Him – “and make no provisions for the flesh”:  To do so we must submit to His Lordship and will the death of Self. Our Savior’s heart, in lock-step with the Father’s will, is defined by Love, Obedience, Passion, Sacrifice and Humility. These should be the stand out virtues of our heart, the ever increasing experience of those who have allowed Christ to take up residence in them. The degree we are truly His is the degree we have submitted to His Lordship in all things, the degree we have put Self to death on His Cross, the degree we think, speak and act like Jesus… the degree we have allowed His life to flow through our life as our life. This is a great and glorious mystery, which is Christ in me, my only hope of eternal glory.

LIVING LIFE AS A REAL SPIRITUAL FAMILY

MILK VERSES SOLID FOOD

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers … you have come to need milk and not solid food … For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness … But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The unrenewed mind in conformance to the world’s ways evaluates “Good” and “Bad” using the world’s yardstick. But God is sovereign in all things, allowing in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power, engaging our will through adversity and affliction – the pot holes and detours of life -- ever moving us Godward down the narrow-gated difficult Way into Christlikeness. With God’s Kingdom yardstick all earthly “Bad” endured by His children is worked together into God’s purposeful “Good”, as the Holy Spirit wills and works in us in accordance with God’s good pleasure.  The truth of the matter: We are a stubborn and stiff necked pleasure seeking people who must willfully crucify our Self-Nature in submission to the Lordship of Christ if we are ever to walk in Christlikeness in this life. Becoming like Jesus, displaying His nature and attributes, is the mystery of Godliness: His life flowing forth from our life as our life, until we no longer live but Christ lives in and through us. “For we have become partakers of Christ … partakers of the divine nature”, having predestined us as His “sons” He must make us fit for “Sonship.”

God knows what it takes... individually, to move each of His chosen ones toward the cross of death, and He allows it for our own Good, that in our death to Self the implanted DNA of Christ’s nature might be resurrected in us... might sprout roots and blossom forth. It takes death of Self: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me … God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” This is the rich and glorious mystery God willed to make known to us, “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Said literally: Christ in me, is my only hope of eternal glory (ditto everyone). Saints, we should “pray always that our God would count us worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power.” There’s a lot of solid food here for those who are “full of age” and weaned of milk.

“FOR EVERYONE WHO PARTAKES ONLY OF MILK

IS UNSKILLED IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

(Heb. 5:12-14; Rom. 8:28; Phil. 2:13; Eph. 1:5; 2 Thess. 1:11; Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20, 6:14; Heb. 3:14; 2 Peter 1:4; Heb. 5:13)

GOD IS IN CONTROL

I realize the statement “God is in control” applies most directly to those who have entered into covenant with Him. But in another sense God must be in control of everything to be “God.” I can’t find the scriptures to support the story that somehow God lost control of his creation in the garden when man sinned. The Bible clearly and repeatedly states God created everything, and holds everything together.  The God who created the universe also created love... joy ...peace... reason... free will... We only know and learn within the boundaries of God’s creative framework. And He speaks specifically of creating evil in Isaiah and other passages: "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity (evil); I, the Lord, do all these things."  “Calamity” is the Hebrew “ra” which covers all forms of adversity, affliction, misfortune, trouble, difficulty, disaster... all forms of Bad, and is the primary Old Testament word translated evil. In the Garden of Eden... the paradise of God, there was a tree whose fruit summed up experiential knowledge giving conceptual understanding of moral and ethical choices of both Good and Ra... Good and Evil. This tree bearing two distinctly different kinds of fruit is a natural marvel defying God’s natural laws. Who could create such a tree but God? No one!

Evil is not the opposite of God... God has no opposites. Evil is the opposite of good, defining good as “Good”, much like the Law defined sin as sin. God in His foreknowledge anticipated the need for evil to consummate His redemptive plan for freewill beings. God created the heavens, but He is not the heavens. God created the earth, but He is not the earth. God created evil and many other things, in fact all "things", but He is not evil or any of these "things"... He is God. You see, God does not have to will evil to accomplish His purposes, but He does allow it. He has satan, who is evil incarnate, on a leash, unwittingly and unwillingly serving His purposes, tempting Self-centered hearts to “give place”… to allow satan influence. He hardened pharaoh’s heart (which was already hard). He predestined every saint to be conformed into the image (nature) of Christ, before the foundations of the world. Our transformation involves adversity as our Self’s desires collide with God’s holiness. The “Bad” things of life are, in a sense, God shouting at us for attention. He wants us to surrender Self to the cross so He can give us something much better -- Him-Self, living His life through us as our life – while turning our bad into His purposeful good.  

Just look around at all the “western cultural Christians”; in fact, maybe we should look at our own heart. The four characteristics of Thornbushers as documented in the Sower Parables all deal with the allure of the world:  The desire for riches, the desire for worldly pleasures, the desire for other non-spiritual things, and preoccupation with the cares of this life, all of which divide our mind, distract us from God’s purposes, and ultimately leave us worried, unstable and anxious. Thorn cluttered hearts have good intensions but they are deceived, thinking they can concurrently abide in Christ and abide in the world... the very thing Christ died to save us from. Evil abounds and knows the Pied Piper’s tunes, but God’s grace superabounds. God will transform hearts that are willing -- even hearts willing to be made willing – for God is in control!

HE IS MAKING US HIS JEWELS!

KNOWLEDGE + FAITH = EXPERIENCE

"In the beginning was “The Word”, and “The Word” was with God, and “The Word” was God.” This phrase “The Word” is, among other things, referring to the knowledge of God conveyed by His written word, scripture, which includes knowledge of “The Word” which became flesh, the incarnate Word… Jesus. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…” The Old Testament is God’s self-disclosure, and the New Testament is God speaking forth the revelation of His Son, both of which make up “The Word”, The Knowledge of God to mankind.

Hebrews chapter four establishes a spiritual principle within the context of receiving a promise from God. In this passage God is chiding Israel for failing to enter Canaan, which He calls His “rest”, because of unbelief. “For indeed the gospel was preached to us (New Covenant believers) as well as to them (Israel); but “The Word” which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Notice “The Word”, the knowledge of God’s promise of a rest for His people, did not profit them. They did not receive God’s promise because they did not mix the knowledge of His promise with faith.

It is the knowledge of God mixed with faith in that knowledge that enables our spiritual experiences. This is how God engages and intervenes in our life. The promise in Hebrews is the rest of God, which for New Covenant believers is the experience of one who has fully surrender to the Lordship of Christ and is totally controlled by the Holy Spirit. “For we who have believed do enter that rest”: To access this promise experientially we must first know the promise then believe it, mixing our knowledge with faith. We are called to be “partakers of Christ” -- not imitators – and to be the temple of the Godhead: It is faith in the knowledge of these promises that produce the indwelling Christ-Life.  Salvation becomes a living reality through faith in the knowledge that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” – wherein we recognize our need for God – and faith in the knowledge of who and what Jesus is that leads us to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, which produces the salvation experience. And so it is with all the promises, blessings, and commandments of God. We must do the “mixing”: We must put our faith into the knowledge of God, His Word, to ever experience the life He has planned for us.

There are those who want to elevate spiritual experience by the belittling of spiritual knowledge. This is simply wrong! Without “The Word”, without the knowledge of God, we can have no meaningful experience of God – no understanding. Knowledge always precedes spiritual experience and defines it for our understanding… and, ultimately, for our spiritual wisdom. This is why it is so very important to make partaking of “The Word” of God a daily lifelong passion.

We cannot believe in “something” without knowledge of the “something”! We cannot experience God without knowledge of and faith in that which we are to experience.

(John 1:1; Heb. 1:1-2; Heb. 4:1-10; Heb. 3:14; 1 Cor. 3:16, 6:19; Rom. 3:23, 6:9-10)

GROWING INTO CHRISTLIKENESS

Saints, we won’t just morph into spiritual maturity, rather, just as an athlete trains the various attributes of their sport to become proficient, we develop spiritually through disciplined training. Spiritual maturity – growing into Christlikeness -- takes effort and discipline. Repetition is the mother of skill, and discipline is a habit formed from doing. It takes focused effort driven by fierce desire to change fleshly lumps of coal into radiant diamonds, jewels fit for the Father’s crown. The key attributes of spiritual discipleship are *study of God’s word, *pray, *seeking God, *worship, and *submission to the Lordship of Christ. 

God’s word is how God communicates His will to us, the primary tool of the Holy Spirit to teach, lead, guide and direct our pathway. We simply must taste of God’s word – gorge ourselves with it -- if we are to understand His will for us and know that He is good to us.

Prayer in its most basic form is asking God to do what He wants to do, understanding gained from His word. Prayer has an element of self-centeredness for we are and will always be dependent children needing provisions... our daily bread. But prayer will also demonstrate our love as we ask for the spiritual and physical needs of others, and as we ask for the desires of God’s heart, for His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

We must pursue the one pursuing us to find God... to be found by Him. Much as an earthly father plays hide and seek with his child, leaving an elbow or foot exposed to help the child’s search, so our Heavenly Father ensures that we find Him when we seek Him. He pursues us through thick and thin, using everything of life to turn us ever Godward... ever home to Him.  As we will for God to have us… He does, invading our heart... working in us to will and do of His good pleasure.

In worship we willfully submit our body (position) and our soul and spirit (attitude) to our loving Father, bring Him worth and openly declaring His value. We become like the “god” we worship: Worship is important for worship determines what we will become, chooses what image we will be made into.

Submission to the Lordship of Christ which, of necessity, includes death to Self -- the pretender to the throne of our heart -- is the only way to fulfill God’s grand plan for us.  Our divine purpose is not to be imitators of Christ, but partakers in Christ, bone of His Bone, and flesh of His Flesh. In short, we must be willing to forsake our life for the matchless treasure of having His, as our life becomes His life lived through us as our life.

If we give ourselves to these five essential attributes of the Christian life we will bring to fruition the deep yearning of the Apostle Paul’s heart, “Christ in me, my only hope of glory.”

“IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, 

BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME”!

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WILL

Paul’s message in Romans 12:1 is all about lordship and submission.  All Christians know Jesus as their Savior but that is only half of His commission.  “God has made this Jesus ... both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), “Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:18). As Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, He brings salvation.  But He is also the Lord God Almighty, and total submission as a bondservant... love slave, to His lordship is not only mandatory, it is reasonable rational intelligent service... “a living sacrifice”, as the Apostle Paul states in Romans 12:1.  What matters now and in Rome two thousand years ago is not that we are Christians.  What matters is that we are Christlike.  God’s goal is not a label... God’s goal is a lifestyle, which brings us to Romans 12:2 where Paul addresses this issue with two commands and a promise:

* Commandment One: Stop living, thinking and acting like the world.

* Commandment Two: Start living, thinking and acting like Kingdom people by the renewing of your mind.

* The Promise: “Then” you will understand, test, and approve God’s will, His good, well pleasing and complete will for you.

Do you want to know God’s will? Here is the only recipe given in scripture: “PRESENT your bodies a living sacrifice.” STOP living, thinking and acting like the world. START living, thinking and acting like Kingdom people. THEN you will understand God’s will. It takes a thorough understanding of God’s word to differentiate between the world’s ways and Kingdom ways, equipping saints under the Lordship of Jesus to complete the recipe... setting their minds on things above moment by moment, day by day. Overcoming life is life lived in the will of God... His good, well-pleasing and complete will...

GODS’ GOAL IS NOT A LABEL...

GODS’ GOAL IS A LIFESTYLE...

LIVING HIS WILL...

STEWARDSHIP BEGINS AT HOME

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore: “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.    (2 Corinthians 6:16-18; 2 Corinthians 7:1) 

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)

DON’T DEFILE YOUR TEMPLE...

KEEP YOUR TEMPLE CLEAN!