SIFTED IN THE SIEVE OF TRANSFORMATION

“Simon, Simon! satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat”: Notice we are under the power and keeping of God. satan must “ask for you”, before he can touch a hair on your head. This is reminiscent of the conversation satan had with God over Job, eons earlier. The “accuser of the brethren” can do little more than accuse without divine permission. Then, as now, God allows, setting the conditions and limits of satan’s attacks. Peter, the Gibraltar of faith who walked on water, would crumble into a pebble of a man this night. Satan would thresh his faith, beating it against the hard ground of life until the husk broke open exposing the small naked kernel of faith. Satan would winnow all of Peter’s chaff... but the wheat belonged to Jesus.

“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail”: Our modern usage of “sift” is to put something through a sieve by violent agitation, straining out and isolating what is most important.  The adversity of life can “sift” us, but it cannot destroy our faith. Quite the contrary sifting purifies our faith, burning out the dross. You see, our Lord has prayed for us... and His prayers are always answered. Tests and trials of faith are transformational, preparing us for the “greater works” of Kingdom life... such as becoming “partakers of Christ … partakers of the divine nature … partakers of His holiness … partakers of the Holy Spirit”, in a word “Christlikeness.” Then we will be equipped for our work of ministry and “strengthening the brethren.”

In John’s gospel Jesus describes himself as “The True Vine” and His disciples as His “branches” who are sustained, nurtured, and bear fruit by “abiding”, continuing in unbroken union with Him. The fruit of this union is Christlikeness. In Romans Jesus is described as an olive tree whose branches, His followers, “partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree”, and are cautioned to remember that they do not support the root, but the root supports them. The fruit of this union is, again, Christlikeness. We desperately need the fatness of the root, the fullness of Christ’s character, virtues, values, and attitudes, flowing freely through us as our nature.

Transformation, being “conformed into the image (nature) of His Son (Christ)”, is a product of “life” working on the branches, much like wind causes tree branches to thicken and grow stronger in preparation for the storms which will come. The adversity and afflictions of life tests, approves, and strengthens our faith while we partake of the sustaining fatness of our Root, and replicate His nature within as fruit of our union with Him. And, this is the “Abundant Life” He promised us, partaking of His nature…

“FOR WE HAVE BECOME PARTAKERS OF CHRIST”

(Lk. 22:31-32; Job 1:8-12; Heb. 3:14, 12:10, 6:4; 2 Peter 1:4;Rom. 11:17-18, 8:29; Jn. 10:10)

“TAKE HEED LEST YOU FALL”

Whatever lofty spiritual plane we imagine we are on, remember, Adam was in Paradise when he fell. Before our increased knowledge and religious experiences make us overly self-confident, recall that Solomon wrote three books of Scripture, he actually gazed upon the glory of God, yet he fell. Yes, even in our deepest worship of the Almighty we must not forget, in long ages past, Lucifer himself was once in Heaven, pouring out praise to God. “Take Heed Lest You Fall.”

“For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” There are many such scriptures which point to salvation as a process with a  past, present and future aspect: We were saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved… if we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation firm and unshaken to the end. For the Lord is able to keep those who want to be kept, to the end.

It is not easy to deliberately turn away from God for His love is relentless and His mercy overwhelms us with our unworthiness. Scripture warns the saints about the power of unbelief to turn a heart to evil, that we can be “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Repeated sin can harden our heart against God. Sin is missing God’s mark, His expectations, as defined in the Bible. And sin is simply unbelief, for if we really believed we would never deliberately sin. Hardened hearts do not fear God. That bears repeating: Hardened hearts sin without remorse or any regard to the fear of God, literally “departing from the living God.” Hardened hearts do not fear God!  

The real issue here is the direction of our hearts. We must perceive and recognize God’s ways and become progressively better, deeper and more intimately acquainted with them. And we must not let our hearts be led astray by the enticements of sin.

You see, we (saints) all sin, including yours truly. So when we sin we must ask for the forgiveness our Lord died to freely provide – recognizing His mercies are new every morning – coming boldly to His Throne of grace -- partaking of the grace which is in Christ. We must be steadfastly confident of God’s love and His willingness to forgive when we are truly repentant. We must not neglect our salvation nor repeatedly harden our hearts when God speaks, rather we must “hear His voice” and heed His commands. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall (into sin).”

TAKE HEED: IT IS A COMMAND FROM GOD!

(Heb. 3:7-19; 1 Cor. 10:12)

TOLERABLY INTOLERANT

Tolerance (täl (ə) rəns, noun): The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions and behavior that one does not agree with or respect. Historically, to be Tolerant has meant to allow, without prohibition or hindrance, ethnic, cultural, national, and religious opinions and practices that differ from one’s own.   It has never carried the connotation of “approval,” approving of or agreeing with these opinions and practices, the forced change of one’s personal opinion from disapproval to acceptance for the sake of being considered Tolerant... never until now! Intolerance, with the prefix “in”, simply means “not tolerant.” The world’s meaning of the word Tolerance now demands acquiescence of one’s personal opinions and practices, under the guise of respecting and agreeing with the opinions and practices of others, in order to be considered Tolerant. Secular progressives use the fear of being labeled intolerant as a pry bar attempting to force acceptance of their aberrant secular opinions and practices upon Christians and non-secular institutions. Secular progressives are intolerant of the Christian faith and the Christian’s right to tolerate without agreement or respect the opinions and practices that are contrary to their beliefs. Let’s call a spade a spade: God’s truth must not be high-jacked by the world’s demand for unqualified Tolerance. The Christian life is not a popularity contest. The world hated our Savior... and should hate us... for the very beliefs that make us intolerant in the world’s eyes!

We live in a society without a moral compass in which choice is king, there are no moral absolutes, truth is one’s personal perception, and every individual is a free moral agent. We are taught to be self-reliant and independent, and that tolerance is a synonym for love. Christianity is no longer the automatic default faith, especially of our youth who prefer either no belief system or a Self composed hodge-podge of tenets taken from any source their wandering mind stumbles upon. Self’s desire and love for the pleasures of life and unrestrained Self appeasement are winning the battle for the heart and soul of man. The accelerating erosion of spiritual life will continue and increase, and the gap between what God’s moral tenets teach and what mankind chooses to believe and practice will continue to grow. Spiritual erosion will continue and escalate until the morally unthinkable becomes common place. Peace... even the earthly kind, will be increasingly difficult to find.

The lines are drawn between the progressively secular world and a God who has spoken! Tolerance and defending our right to be tolerant, often with the false stigmatism of being labeled intolerant, is not fun for those doing the tolerating, but it is necessary. As Christians we should and must stand up for our faith tenets: It is absolutely “OK” for a Christian to vocally oppose and even protest against opinions and practices that violate God’s word, to do so is to exhibit tolerance. But it is not OK to unlawfully hinder or prohibit that which is lawful. The secular progressive agenda is to institutionalize their lifestyle into law, making opinions and practices which are an abomination to God legal, and using the rule of law – with the full force of government behind it -- to force acceptance from Christian denominations and institutions. This may force the true Church, The Body of Christ, to go underground as the official structures and institutions inevitably cave to the corrupted legal system. We are, after all, living in the End Times!

But God Himself has broken into our silence; He has come down to earth Himself, and He has spoken! And nothing else is truly relevant... Nothing but God! For nothing else can save us from our Self and the powers of darkness which envelope planet earth. The age in which we live is a social cesspool, a floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, impulses, desires, aims and aspirations which are contrary to God and constitute a most real and effective power, being the immoral atmosphere of which, at every moment of our lives, we inhale. Only God can save us…

GOD HIMSELF HAS SPOKEN

LIVING SACRIFICE, LORDSHIP, SANCTIFICATION, AND THE WILL OF GOD

Romans 12:1: This powerful verse commands saints to “present your bodies a living sacrifice” unto God: Submission to the Lordship of Christ is how we become a “living sacrifices.” Christians (both Jews and gentiles), are the New Covenant people of God. We do not offer animal sacrifices in a temple, for we are God’s temple. Rather we should offer our bodies – all that we are and have – daily as a living sacrifice in submission to Christ who is both our Lord and Savior. In this way we acknowledge God’s property rights for He purchased us with the precious blood of His Beloved Son. And, this is worship of the highest order!

Romans 12:2: In this verse comes the command “do not be conformed to this world”, literally stop allowing the world to conform you to its ways. Culture is a powerful thing. Saints must resist the temptation to pattern their life after the character, virtues, values and attitudes – the lifestyle and world view – of a world whose god is satan… whose purpose is our eternal destruction. Self, our fleshly carnal nature, is the real enemy and loves the world with all its trinkets and glitter. It will take a renewed mind and heart transformed by the implanted nature of Christ to force Self to relinquish control. Self’s nature and our Lord’s nature cannot coexist peacefully in our heart; one must die that the other can reign… Self must be nailed to the Cross that Christ can reign and rule in our heart.  Only in this way can we fully grasp God’s will: Test and prove by practice in our everyday life that God’s will is “good and acceptable and perfect.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” So, what does sanctification have to do with Romans 12:1-2? Everything! Translated from the Greek hagiasmos, sanctification refers not only to the activity of the Holy Spirit in setting man apart unto salvation and transferring him into the ranks of the redeemed, but also to enabling him to be holy – even as God is holy – by conformance into the likeness (nature) of Christ: “For whom He foreknew (the saints), He also predestined to be conformed to the image (nature) of His Son, that He (Christ) might be the firstborn among many brethren.”(Rom. 8:29) Our “Oneness” with Christ must be more than a theological concept… it must become reality! The number one thing on God’s heart, His “perfect will”, is for His children to be transformed into the nature – the character, virtues, values, and attitudes -- of His Beloved Son. In a word, Christlikeness. Sanctification is God’s will... And, Romans 12:1-2 points the way…

IN A WORD, CHRISTLIKENESS

TITHES, GIVING AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

Tithe is from the Hebrew word maser and means “a tenth part”, a requirement of the Old Testament Law in which all Israelites were to give a tithe of everything they earned and grew. One yearly tithe (10%) went to support the Levites and the temple at Jerusalem. (Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-31) One yearly tithe (10%) went to sponsor religious festivals in Jerusalem. (Deut. 14:22-26) And one tithe (10%) paid every third year supported the local Levites, orphans, sojourners, and widows throughout Israel. (Deut. 14:27-29, 26:12-13) These were two 10% yearly tithes and one 10% tithe paid every three years for a total yearly tithe of 23 1/3%. God commanded all three tithes and used the plural, “tithes” in Neh. 12:14 and Mal. 3:8-12. But this command, like the rest of “The Law” was given to the Israelites, not New Testament saints abiding under Grace. We must remember the Apostle Paul warned that to keep any part of the Law makes one a debtor to keep the whole Law. (Gal. 5:3) And no one, except Jesus, has ever kept the whole Law! This is not the road a saint saved by Grace should ever be tempted to travel…

New Testament saints are owned by God, purchased with the precious blood of His Son, so God owns us and all that we have... not ten %, and He may require all if it at any time. He wants us to “abound in the grace of giving”, and allows us to give as we have “purposed in our heart”, loving our sacrificial giving with an attitude of cheerfulness. We are to purposefully “lay aside” our excess, that which is over and above our own needs, to meet the needs of our brethren (2 Cor. 8:1-7, 13-15; 9:6-11). This is sacrificial giving, living frugally in order to have more to share; allowing the Holy Spirit to touch our heart with the needs of others. Heart-based giving is much more difficult then rule-based giving for Self will want to set the bar pretty low and keep more for him Self. Giving is a love test of sorts, the Second Commandment in action: Do we love others to the same degree that we love our Self? Do we cheerfully give unto others as we give unto our Self? The answer is defining, measuring our love for God and our spiritual maturity.

Old Testament tithing was compulsory and earned favor and blessings with God. The Jews were prone to do the external and material while neglecting the expression of the inner qualities of the Spirit (Lk. 11:37- 42). In the New Testament tithing is neither stressed nor commanded, but saints are urged to give voluntarily (2 Cor. 9:7) without neglecting the development of spiritual qualities: “But rather give alms of such things as you have ...” (Lk. 11:41). “Such things as you have” is a word cluster translated from the Greek word enonta which means those things which are within the human heart ... spiritual qualities, the Lord here speaking of the inner man from which one should give alms... from the heart... out of love, joyously extending mercy. New covenant giving is characterized by what Paul wrote to Philemon: “That your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.” (Phile. 1; 14)

Endnote: Much of the twenty-first century church teaches tithing as a way to fund large facilities, amenities, and worldwide ministries, including upscale living for the ministry team. Not only are we prideful of our churches, many saints believe the unfounded notion that a large prosperous church indicates God’s hand of blessing on the ministry, as if getting a large number of people into a building meant something. Saints are taught that tithing guarantees prosperity, and giving to get becomes a lifestyle. Then when they hit a financial speed-bump God takes the hit for failing to keep promises He didn’t make! Sorry folks, but God never promises prosperity as an entitlement, and does, in fact, warn us repeatedly about the dangerous of riches as in the parable of The Sower where riches suffocate God’s word, and in the parable of the Rich Young Ruler where riches make it hard, if not impossible, to enter God’s Kingdom.

“GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER”

TOO PROUD TO BE BLESSED

I am juxtaposing two entirely different precepts to make a point, “tithing” and “washing the saints’ feet.” Let’s look at these two precepts:

Tithing: Tithing is mentioned 37 times in the Bible, 30 in the Old Testament and 7 in the New Testament. Tithing is an Old Testament requirement right out of the Law of Moses, with no application or substantiation under New Covenant Grace where its only New Testament mention is in reference to Judaism, not Christianity. Under the Law tithing guaranteed the financial blessings of God… Giving guaranteed prosperity. Under Grace tithing puts one in bondage to the Law… to keep the whole Law… an impossible task!

Washing the saints’ feet: Washing a saint’s feet is a New Covenant precept instituted by Jesus as an example that we should do as He had done, promising that we would be blessed if we washed one another’s feet. It takes deep commitment, brotherly love, and humility to wash another Christians’ feet, and the blessings are spiritual in nature.

Now which do you suppose God’s bratty children do??? We give 10% checking our “I’m OK” box, dragging legalism into God’s awesome Grace... Giving To Get! And we miss out on the humbling transformational experience of washing another saint’s feet... emulating our Lord and invoking His promise: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” We can’t even get the simplest most basic command right in our striving to prosper in a world our Lord warned us not to love. I, for one, want the spiritual blessings of God, not the accolades of man.

Follow Up Note: The Law actually required three ten percent tithes, two yearly and one every three years -- i.e., 23 1/3%.  And as for N.T. giving, God doesn’t want 10%... or 23 1/3%... He wants hearts raptured by His love that give as prompted by the Holy Spirit... giving sacrificially, even as the widow gave out of her need, depending on Him for our future provisions as we demonstrate His love to others. New Testament giving takes faith for there is no automatic reimbursement entitlement as there was under the Law of Moses!

“BLESSED ARE YOU IF YOU DO THEM”

(Jn. 13:3-17)

GOD’S BANKER

How would you like to be the Lord’s Banker here on planet earth, managing His resources? Well... you are! What God gives to us, He wants to push through us to others. How much we keep measures our love for God against our love for Self. You see, there are two books and two covenants: Under the Old Testament Law tithing, which simply means “a tenth part”, is commanded. Under New Testament Grace love is commanded and giving is from the heart: God wants us to demonstrate His agape love through willful sacrificial giving to those in need... for they will know we are Christians by our love.  

Tithing does appear in the Old Testament, so it is scriptural, but it is not “Christian.” Three tithes were commanded from ancient Israel on the produce of the land (e.g., seeds, fruits, livestock, etc.), as their national taxation system: Ten percent was tithed annually to support the Levites, who had no inheritance in Canaan, and support the temple. Ten percent was tithed annually to sponsor the religious festivals in Jerusalem. And Ten percent was tithed every third year to support the local Levitical priests, orphans, sojourners, the poor, strangers, and widows throughout Israel. These three tithes, two at 10% each year and one at 10% every three years, total a yearly tithe of 23.3%.

Tithing was, essentially, Israel’s income tax. Israel supported their national workers (priests), their national holidays and festivals, and their national poor (strangers, widows, orphans) through tithing. Tithing is the model for all modern national tax systems and served the same purpose.  With the “death of the testator”, Christ, The Law and all the ceremonial codes of the Old Testament were nailed to the cross and buried, never to be used to condemn New Testament Christians again. This is why we never see Christians tithing in the New Testament – or the sacrificing of red heifers for that matter -- it’s a New Covenant… “Christ has made us free” from bondage to The Law.  

The deception of Christian tithing is fivefold: First it attempts to justify by works a Law precept made null and void under Grace. Second, giving under Grace is an act of worship, and God is looking for worshipers. Third, it sets the bar artificially low, encouraging us to squander most of God’s wealth on the very things He warned us not to love... the world’s toys.  Fourth, it ignores the really important stuff like “righteousness by faith”, the leadership of God’s Spirit, and “faith working through love.” And Fifth, tithing makes New Testament saints a “debtor to keep the whole Law”, an impossible “yoke of bondage.”

The supposed glitches: Abraham, who lived before The Law, tithed once in his 175 years of life. His tithe was not compulsory or out of the produce of the land, rather he tithed voluntarily out of the spoils of war. And, this “tithe” was not used as required by the Law. Abraham did not “tithe.” In Malachi chapter 3: 5, 8-10 God is scolding Israel for withholding their tithes from Him and by so doing oppressing the widows, the fatherless, and the stranger, the rightful recipients of the tithe under The Law. God commands the tithes to be brought “into the storehouse” which is located in the chambers of the temple and used to store produce of the land (not money). Malachi does not apply to Christians.

The history: Tithing did not become widespread among Christians until the eight century when land leasing with a tithe fee, ten percent, was a common characteristic of the European economy. The church had acquired considerable land holding through the generosity of Roman emperors and patrons, and likewise leased its land charging a tithe as an “ecclesiastical tax.” Over time this tithe was connected with the tithe requirements under The Law and morphed into a mandatory religious practice throughout Christian Europe, applicable to all Christians. So tithing as we know it today has its origin in the secular European states and spread from these secular roots to the church, who misinterpreted and misapplied scripture to validate the practice. Tithing has become an entitlement to the modern church which simply lacks the faith to trust God for its provisions.

Tithing belongs exclusively to Israel under The Law: Financial stewardship for first century and twenty-first century Christians is to give cheerfully according to their ability, and never dutifully out of a command. God’s Bankers are not at all like Wall Street Bankers, they look for opportunities to give, and consider sacrifice a virtue...

“CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE …

(Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-31; Deut. 12:17-18; Deut. 14: 22-29; Deut. 26:12-13; Gal. 5:1-6; Heb. 9:16-17; Col. 2:14)

TITHING, FOOT WASHING, AND HOLY KISSES

Tithing is an Old Testament commandment right out of the Law of Moses, with no precept or application under New Covenant Grace, totally unsubstantiated by New Testament scriptures. Tithing is endlessly taught – dragging Old Covenant passages out of context – dragging legalism into God’s awesome Grace. Under the Law tithing was a sure thing – obedient works insured God’s blessing – one could call it giving to get! The Law actually required three ten percent tithes, two yearly and one every three years -- i.e., 23 1/3% each year – and each tithe had a specific purpose under the Old Covenant. As for New Covenant giving, God doesn’t want 10%... 23 1/3%... or even 100%. God wants hearts raptured by His love that give as prompted by the Holy Spirit --  giving sacrificially, even as the widow gave out of her need – always depending on Him for our future provisions as we demonstrate His love to others. New Testament giving takes faith for there is no automatic reimbursement entitlement as there was under the Law of Moses!

Washing the saints’ feet is a New Covenant precept instituted by Jesus as an example that we should do as He had done, promising that we would be blessed if we washed one another’s feet: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” It can’t get much clearer than this: “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”  “Ought” – opheilo in the Greek – is the verb of “owe” and expresses a special personal obligation, a duty to do something... a debt of love. Much like the command repeated five times in scripture to “Greet one another with a holy kiss”, a “kiss of love”, we tend to ignore precepts that bring us up close and personal with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And, we miss out on the humbling transformational experience of washing another saint’s feet...  miss out on emulating our Lord and invoking His promise: “Blessed are you if you do them.”

In the Old Testament the tithe was compulsory and was a means of earning the favor of God. Under the Law the Jews were prone to do the external and material -- neglecting the expression of inner spiritual qualities --  more concerned with the outside of the cup than the inside ( Lk. 11: 37-44). New Testament saints, however, are urged to give voluntarily – from the heart – without neglecting the development of inner spiritual qualities (2 Cor. 9:7). Note Jesus speaking in Luke 11:41: “But rather give alms of such things as you have.”  The phrase “such things as you have” is a word cluster translating the Greek word eneimi which means “to be within”, those things that are inside you -- spiritual qualities, the nature of Jesus – literally “Give that which is within as your alms.” Our relational Daddy wants His children to relate to one another from their heart -- sharing the nature of our Lord He has deposited there --  and His expectations go well beyond the precepts under discussion. As we are transformed by the nature of Christ, to give that which is within as our alms will take on a whole new meaning. This verse immediately proceeds the ‘Woe to you” Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees for tithing while neglecting justice and the love of God.

Now my purpose here is not to convince anyone to quit tithing – that is the job of the Holy Spirit to those who have an ear to hear -- rather to encourage obedience to the commandments of our Lord. Anyone who takes the time to study tithing will find it was instituted by the Roman emperor Constantine in the third century becoming a common practice in the eighth century, and was never a part of the first-century church. New Testament passages which reference tithing do not impose it as a commandment under Grace; rather they reference it as a part of Judaism, in commentary relating to the Pharisees and the tribe of Levy. Many churches pull passages such as “Will a man rob God” out of their Old Testament context -- where they were dealing with Israel’s failure to obey the Law – in a veiled effort to leverage giving, rather than have faith in God for their ministry provisions.

The Apostle Paul said “the Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ”, for “Christ is the end of the Law ... for everyone who believes.” And Paul likewise warned that to put oneself under any precept of the Law – be it circumcision, sabbath keeping, tithing, etc. -- was to become a “debtor to keep the whole Law”, calling the Law a curse: “Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage ... For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”  New Covenant saints have been delivered from and died to the requirements of the Law so that they can “serve in the newness of the Spirit.” It is most ironic that in our striving to prosper (through tithing) in a world our Lord warned us not to love, we ignore those humbling most basic commandments that are rooted and grounded in His desire for us to demonstrate His agape love to one another.

Saints, our lives should re-present our Lord to this world: We are our Lord’s hands as we wash one another’s feet, our Lord’s kiss on the cheek, as we greet one another with a holy kiss of love. These are simple things which are humbling to express. Our Savior gave us these precepts as an example that we too would have a servant’s heart. And, He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Notice whose commandments we are to keep: The Lord was not referring to the Old Testament commandments of the Mosaic Law, but rather His commandments, the commandments of the New Testament... the New Will... the New Covenant, written in His blood!

Postscript: If we embrace tithing, as a New Covenant precept, we should at the very least get the amount right... 23 1/3 %. And, as New Covenant believers, we must all embrace the commandments of our Lord, especially ones which go against our nature like the examples noted. Obedience, after all, is the only scriptural method of demonstrating the first, greatest, and most essential commandment... to love God...

(Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:20-21; Deut. 12:17-18, 14:28-29, 26:12-13; Jn. 13:3-17; Rom. 7:6, 10:4, 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Peter 5: 14; Gal. 3:10, 24, 5:3; James 2:10; Jn. 14:15; Gal.) 

“IF YOU LOVE ME...

KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS...”

THE WILL OF GOD

For the saint God’s will can be more easily understood as two wills: First there is God’s primary will common for all His children, the conformation – transformation -- of their nature into the nature of Christ, that  Christ  “might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Second, there is the unique will of God for each saint pertaining to their individual ministry, and the “good works” which God foreordained for them, their Kingdom works. We can see this most clearly in Romans 12:2, (John’s translation): “Brethren, stop assuming a lifestyle that is not representative of your inner spiritual nature, but is patterned after this world.  Change your way of living to express and reflect your inner spiritual nature by the continual renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve in practice God’s will, His good, well-pleasing and complete will.”

Blood bought saints, indwelt by God’s Spirit, have the nature of Christ, His character, virtues, values, and attitudes, deposited within. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ in us -- manifesting His nature from the inside out. Notice Paul is speaking to “brethren”... saints... you and me, in this passage which gives a command followed by a promise. The promise of knowing and experiencing God’s will follows the command to stop conforming to the world’s ways. Mental renewal is the product of our submission to the Lordship of Christ and death to Self... our old carnal nature.  As we crucify our Self-centered life and submit to our Savior as Lord the Holy Spirit begins to release the implanted nature of Christ, replacing Self with His nature – renewing our mind in the process. This is the first and primary will of God, our Christlikeness. 

In mental renewal our mind is progressively transformed into His mind, as we become more and more Christlike: Having the “mind of Christ” is the progressive culmination of God’s transformation process. It is in the process of mental renewal that the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to us our ministry and the works He has predetermined for us – His second will. To be equipped with the nature of Christ and the mind of Christ is what the Apostle Paul meant by his command to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”, to literally clothe one’s Self in Christ. Then we can walk in the will of God as an ongoing revelation. We are enabled to test and approve in practice the will of God -- His good, well-pleasing and complete will for each of us -- as our heart is progressively transformed into His heart, and our mind is progressively transformed into His mind.

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART AND MIND

“FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP”

(Rom. 12; 1-2, 8:29, 13:14; Eph. 2:10; 1 Cor. 2:16; Gal. 3; 27)

CHRISTMAS AND THE LOVE OF GOD

The Cross, the single most horrendous and beautiful act of love the world will ever witness, necessitated a birth in a manger, and a Father’s loving heart. So at this time it is good to take a moment and reflect on the love of God… the love of our Daddy.

God is enthusiastically fervent in His pursuit of us... using love to capture our restless heart:

His love is compelling: It heals us, stripping away our pretense in restoration.

His love is enthralling: It captivates and commands us to be the same... to be loving.

His love is overwhelming: It is designed to overwhelm all things, especially fear, shame, and low self esteem.

His love is comforting: He rejoices over us with singing... lullabies of love, to quiet our worrisome heart. 

His love is faithful: His faithfulness abounds beyond our faithlessness... He simply cannot deny His love for us.

His love is compulsive: He passionately seeks those who seek Him... drawing them like a human magnet... allowing them to find Him, and rewards their diligence by lavishing pouring His love into their heart.

His love is prodigal... wastefully extravagant: He abundantly and profusely lavishes His love on His undeserving children.

His love is unconscionable... irrational:  His love exceeds the rational limits of human reason.

His love is sacrificial... outrageous and shockingly sacrificial: He gave His Beloved Son for love of a world that hates Him.

His love is consistently constantly constant: When we do good He approves of us and when we do bad He accepts us... His love is never affected by our performance.

His love is passionate... a consuming fire overwhelming every willing heart in its path. Love is not simply God’s choice... love is His nature... God is Love. 

His love is the first Fruit of His Spirit... the fruit from which joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all flow.

His love is scandalous... outrageous and shocking, to the natural mind, and never more than one heartfelt “yes” away...

God loves us with a perfect love... an everlasting love... a relentless love... an unquenchable, insatiable, immeasurable, inexhaustible, irrepressible, irrational, unshakeable, inescapable, unmovable, constantly constant unchanging love.  There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less.  God loves us 100%... all the way... all the time! He doesn’t love us for what we do - thank God - He loves us for who we are... His children.

And it was this love that made our reconciliation to God and restoration into sons and daughters of God possible. So… as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us reflect on the amazing love of our amazing God which makes all that is good in life possible…

FOR… GOD IS LOVE

GOD HAS NO OPPOSITE

Bad may be the opposite of good, but satan is not the opposite of God. There is no self-existent supernatural power in opposition to God, for God has no opposite... none whatsoever, and He is the only uncreated entity in existence. There are angels, some of which defied God with their free will -- just as man is inclined to do -- becoming devils, fallen angels, alienated from their creator. Satan, the chief devil, is defeated and doomed, powerless outside the scope of God’s allowings. He knows his fate is eternally sealed -- no power in Heaven or Earth can change what God has decreed -- and God’s clock is ticking. The finite cannot withstand the infinite, nor the created its creator... we human kind need to remember that.

GOD IS: God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. If God is All Powerful, All Knowing and Ever Present – and He is! --  then there can be no supernatural power in opposition that He does not allow, and if He allowed it then it cannot be in opposition, but rather working out in some grand way His will. We see this clearly in Job where satan had to get permission from God to attack Job, and God set the type and limits of the attacks. God knew satan would rebel when He created him, knew man would disobey, knew He would sacrifice His beloved Son to redeem mankind, and wrote the saints names in His Book of Life before creation... eons before they even existed. God was... is... and will always be in control, and neither satan, his demons, nor mankind can oppose His will. GOD IS… IN CONTROL!

FAR ABOVE EVERY NAME: There is nothing “proper” about satan! I never capitalize his name, for he is not even worthy of the recognition give to a proper noun. God, on the other hand, is worthy of all our praise, glory, and honor, and is exalted “Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named -- above every title that can be conferred -- not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.” (Eph. 1:21, Amplified Bible) Capitalizing His name and any name that refers to Him -- even the pronouns that refer to Him -- is a constant reminder of Who and What He is to me, my King of kings and Lord of lords, a small way to honor Him in my writings. Some may call these grammatical errors… I call them worship!

“AND HE (GOD) PUT

 ALL THINGS

UNDER HIS (JESUS’) FEET”

ISN’T EVERYTHING A THING?

ALL IN...

“I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, refuse and dregs, in order that I may gain Christ the Anointed One.” The Apostle Paul is “All In” here: Nothing is withheld from submission to the Lordship of Jesus because nothing of earth-life can “compare to the Priceless Privilege, the Overwhelming Preciousness, the Surpassing Worth, and Supreme Advantage” of knowing Christ and becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him.  What a standard of spiritual excellence Paul sets for all the saints!

Paul appropriated into his life the perfection, the purposes, the graces and the fragrance of the Person of Christ, through daily visits to the cross, counting everything else as dung, that he might progressive gain Christ... growing in Christlikeness. His burning desire for more -- to clothe himself with more of the character, virtues, values and attitudes of His Savior -- was captured in His poignant command: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” The Amplified Bible has it “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Clothing Self with the Lord’s nature insures the death of Self… the death of indulging fleshly lusts. Insatiable hunger for more of Christ is evident in his lifelong pursuit to “Know Him”, no matter the loss, no matter the personal cost, his heart’s cry: “That I may know Him”! Would that my heart shed the same tears...

Father, help me to lay everything of this life at the feet of Your Beloved Son, counting it all as “mere rubbish, refuse and dregs”, that I may “gain Christ”, and be found in Him. “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.”

Sharing in the suffering of Christ produces spiritual transformation into His likeness – His nature – ultimately leading to our spiritual and moral resurrection lifting us out from among the spiritually dead even while in our physical body. WOW! There is a lot here for those who have an ear to hear!

“THAT I MAY KNOW HIM”

(Phil. 3:8-12, Amp. Bible modified; Rom. 13:14)

COUNTING IT ALL JOY

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials … glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation (trials, tests of faith) produces perseverance; and perseverance, character (Christlikeness); and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Saints, we should rejoice during tribulation, trials, and tests of faith because the love of God is being poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us by our Father to help us cope with the bad stuff of life.  (James 1:2; Rom. 5:3-5)

We have been granted the esteemed privilege, for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him but to suffer in His behalf, filling up in our flesh what remains of His suffering. Having this Grace, we are not for a moment frightened or intimidated by our adversary or his gophers. For our constant fearlessness in adversity is an attesting seal of satan’s pending destruction, as well as attesting evidence of our salvation.

Hear the word’s of the Apostle Paul taken from the Amplified Bible (Phil. 1:28, 29; Col. 1:24): “And do not for a moment be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries, for such constancy and fearlessness will be a clear sign, proof and seal to them of their impending destruction, but a sure token and evidence of your deliverance and salvation, and that from God. For you have been granted the privilege for Christ’s sake not only to believe in, adhere to, rely on, and trust in Him, but also to suffer in His behalf. Even now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed on our part of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.”

REJOICE IN TRIBULATION, TRIALS, TESTS

BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD

IS BEING POURED INTO OUR HEARTS

BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

OOZING CHRISTLIKENESS

“For we have become partakers of Christ”. Christian life is not an imitation of Christ; it is a participation in Christ, becoming “partakers of the divine nature”. We must transcend the natural realm, immersing ourselves in His supernatural nature dwelling within, to experience the power of His resurrected Christ-Life, and, relinquishing our own Self-Life, become ever more fully possessed by His Divine-Life until “I (Self) no longer live but Christ lives in (and through) me.” Smith Wigglesworth said it best: “Be filled with the Spirit, that is, be soaked with the Spirit.  Be so soaked that every thread in the fabric of your life will have received the requisite scent of the Spirit.  Then when you are misused and squeezed to the wall, all that will come out of you will be the nature of Christ.”   “Christian” is not a label, but a lifestyle of oozing Christlikeness!

At salvation the divine nature of our Lord, His Character, Virtues, Values, and Attitudes, is implanted in our inner being, becoming the source of our new nature – what scripture calls our New Man – providing both the desire and power to do God’s will. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to manifest – release – this New Nature in us as we submit to the Lordship of Jesus and willfully put Self, the ruler of our carnal fleshly nature, to death, making way for Christlikeness to emerge and take control. This is how we “become partakers of Christ”, by sharing in… participating in, His divine nature. Notice the “Become”: We have “begun to be” and will continue to be partakers of Christ’s nature. And, we shall never fully partake of His infinite fullness, it is a lifelong process of transformation. Saints, we are participators in the Christ-Life, vessels who willfully and progressively empty ourselves allowing His DNA to progressively live through us as our life!

AND THIS IS HOW WE OOZE…

(Heb. 3:14; 2 Peter 1:4; Gal. 2:20)

SQUEAKING BY

God is the world’s greatest good; good He defines within the purview of His purposes. Therefore the greatest good for us is to be found in Him. This is His purpose and should be our goal. God doesn’t need us, He is totally perfect and complete within Himself, but He does treasure and want us. His love for us is relentless… infinitely so: There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less. We, on the other hand, are in desperate need of God but don’t really want Him, pondering with callous indifference how little we can do to squeak by. We are His jewels. All too often… He is just our Genie…

You see, God purchased us – paying the greatest price ever paid for anything – the most precious blood of His Beloved Son – so He has every legal right to indenture us as slaves to Himself. But instead He gives us the freedom to choose whom we will serve, God or Self. Many make a pretense… a profession, of choosing God as the Lord of their life only to slide into the all too easy enslavement of Self control. And, Self loves life, the pleasures and trinkets of this world, the very things Jesus warned against. Professing Christ as our Lord and Savior without possessing Him is a deadly charade: Saints, we must possess Christ and be possessed by Him, allowing His Spirit to indwell us, and take control of our misplaced desires. But, all too often, we give only a small bit of our heart to God, selecting some aspects of the Christian life – such as Sunday church attendance, giving a little, and maybe joining some church sponsored activity – to (we think) appease God and allow us to convince ourselves our relationship with God is OK. And then we have the audacity to think we are entitled to His blessings over our life. News Flash: God knows our hearts, and He doesn’t want some of our time… some of our money… some of our life, He wants the whole enchilada submitted to Him – under the leadership of the Holy Spirit – and, He wants it 24/7. When we try to live out our Christian faith professing Christ as our Lord and Savior without possessing His indwelling life… we are just trying to squeak by while hanging on to the world with a death grip. This just won’t work…

Jesus said in Revelations 3:15-16: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Cold is a metaphor for a total lack of commitment to God. Hot is a metaphor for a full 100% commitment to God. And… Squeakers get Spewed!

Squeakers get Spewed!

TRUST GOD OR FEAR THE STORM

“Yes, though I walk through the deep, sunless valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You (God) are with me … For He (God) Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down nor relax My hold on you! Assuredly not! … Fear not, there is nothing to fear, for I AM with you.” (Ps. 23:4; Heb 13:5, Is. 41:10, Amplified Bible)

Overwhelming comfort: Hear the words of Hebrews 13:5 from the Wuest Greek New Testament: “For He Himself has said, and the statement is on record, I will not, I will not cease to sustain and uphold you. I will not, I will not, I will not let you down. So that, being of good courage, we are saying, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear.” “I will not let you down” is repeated three times in the original Greek text for emphasis. This technique only occurs a few times in the Bible highlighting the message in these passages as very important! This is our comfort when our heart is overwhelmed: Our Daddy Himself has stated this in the eternal record of His omnipotent word: “I will not fail you, or give up on you, or leave you without support. I will not! I will not! I will not leave you helpless, alone, forsaken, or let down! I will not relax My hold on you! Absolutely not… Not now… Not ever! So… My beloved child, Be of Good Cheer!

Ultimately, we can either trust God or fear the storm. The strength of faith -- faith that looks at God rather than the storm -- faith that knows our God is greater than any momentary affliction life can throw at us -- is its audacity to hope, giving sustaining evidence of the unseen reality of God’s presence. God’s presence during our darkest hour gives us the audacity to hope … come what may! And hope is hopeless without trust. Faith in the face of adversity is to trust (hope) in God’s goodness in spite of any apparent evidence against it, recognizing His ways are above our ways, knowing He is working all our “Things” into His eternal Good… knowing His love for us is relentless. (Rom. 8:28)

Storms never win:  The Cross of Christ proves beyond any doubt… Storms never win! Rather than put our faith, hope, and trust in a certain outcome, we need to put our faith, hope, and trust in a certain Someone. Storms may cast a “shadow of death”, but it’s only a shadow, death has been defeated. Storms test and approve our faith, burning out the dross of doubt as we choose faith, hope, and trust over doubt, developing “the word of our testimony.” (Rev. 12:11) And Daddy, the great I AM, is always with us… His abiding presence is always enough… more than enough…

STORMS NEVER WIN

SO... BE OF GOOD COURAGE!

ARMED WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST

“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  And having been perfected ...” Jesus modeled the perfecting life we are to live before the Father as a son. “Suffered” means not only adverse and affliction, but also the suffering of Self denial, denying Self the tempting desires of life in this world: “For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world.” And, “He Himself has suffered, being tempted.” For, “In all things He had to be made like His brethren.” Jesus was made exactly like us so we could emulate His life, the overcoming life He demonstrated.

 Obedience under pressure produced perfection in the man Jesus... and it will do the same for you... and for me! “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps ... Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin” Wow! Now there is a conditional promise worthy of all we may be called to endure. We too learn obedience in “suffering” the pressures... the speed-bumps of life, becoming spiritually mature as we die to Self releasing the nature of the perfect Son within to live out His perfect life in and through us as our life. And God will, “after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

“LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS”

(1 Jn. 2:16; Heb. 5:8-9, 2:17-18; Matt. 5:48; 1Thess. 3:3; 2 Cor. 4:17;

2 Tim. 3:12; Phil. 1:29, 2;5; 1 Peter 2:21, 4:1, 5:10; and others)

EAGERLY WAITING FOR JESUS

We live between the times, the Cross in our rear view mirror as we move forward in time toward our Savior’s second coming, fixed at God’s timing in our future. Saints are, in a word, “waiting” for their Lord’s return to fetch them to their forever home. The writer of Hebrews, after speaking of the greatness of our Lord’s redemptive sacrifice ushering in the “new and better covenant” of the New Testament (Chapter nine), commented  in verse twenty-eight on how we should be waiting through the use of the Greek word  apekdechomai. This compound word means to watch for, to wait for, expect, to be about to receive, and expresses the saint’s lifestyle of patient expectation based on our Blessed Hope. “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time…” (NKJV) Stated in the present participle apekdechomai expresses continuous action into the future, a continuously expectant lifestyle. The Amplified Bible captures the full force of the Greek text: Christ will appear a second time to “those who are eagerly, constantly, and patiently waiting for and expecting Him.”

Christ Himself is the content of our expectation, our only hope of eternal salvation. Apekdechomai therefore characters Christian life – our “waiting” – as one of expectation of the greatest climatic event the world will ever witness, an event which gives this life and the whole of creation true meaning. And, do not let the elephant in the room go unnoticed! Christ will appear only (implied) to those who eagerly, constantly, and patiently wait for and expect Him. This truth is borne out by many scriptures and parables. As the Apostle Paul said, the Crown of Righteousness is given to “all who have loved His (Christ’s) appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:8)

EAGERLY… CONSTANTLY… PATIENTLY…

WAITING FOR AND EXPECTING HIM!

DADDY KNOWS

God is all knowing, ever present, and all powerful, three attributes that God and only God possesses, distinctly inherent parts of His divine nature. As the repository of all knowledge, words, and thoughts God literally knows everything that was, is, and will ever be… infinite knowledge. As the ever present God He is everywhere, throughout time and eternity, at the very same time… infinite presence. And, as the all powerful God, He is able to do anything, anywhere, anytime, all the time, at the same time… infinite power.  Selah… pause and calmly contemplate the awesomeness of our Father!

A Christian pilot flying a Jet at thirty thousand feet suddenly experienced engine shut down, spiraling out of control toward earth. Facing sure doom in mere seconds the pilot cried out “Lord, help me”! Our eternal Daddy, who knows the beginning and the end of all things, is not bound by time and is never surprised, rushed or forced into action. You see, God dwells outside our four dimensional space-time continuum in a humanly unperceivable infinitely dimensional spaceless-timeless eternal continuum we can’t begin to define let alone understand. Before the foundations of the world... before His seven day creation wonder, God foreknew this pilot’s dilemma, heard his prayer and answered, countless millions of years before the event occurred in time. Ditto God’s saints: God resolved all our adversity, healed all our afflictions, solved all of our problems and difficulties, and gave us complete restoration eons ago. We human kind live in the “Present” with the Past behind us as a memory, and  the Future ahead of us as an expectation.  God lives The Past, Present, and Future simultaneously in timeless eternity… all at the same time. We space-time dwellers simply have to learn patience...  and trust.  God’s answer to our prayer is waiting for us in our future, waiting for us to arrive at it in time.  You see… God owns time! Awesome!

GOD OWNS TIME

“FOR THIS YOU KNOW”

This phrase occurs only once in scripture (Eph. 5:5) declaring emphatically something all saints should know. “For you know this”: No person who practices sexual immorality (fornication) of any sort, or morally impurity (uncleanness) in thought or life, or one who greedily desires (covetousness) to have more, worshiping (idolatry) the god of wealth, will have any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God... “For because of these things the wrath of God comes.” This phrase is a direct appeal to the saint’s conscious understanding of the eternally assured unalterable incompatibility of such sins with our inheritance in the Kingdom of God. We know because God has written it in our heart. The Apostle Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesus in 60/61 AD. What is commonplace in the 21st century church has been damned from the get-go!

The Amplified Bible makes God’s expectations crystal clear: “But immorality (sexual vice) and all impurity of lustful, rich, wasteful living, or greediness must not even be named among you, as is fitting and proper among the saints, God’s consecrated people. Let there be no filthiness, obscenity, indecency, nor foolish, sinful, silly and corrupt talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting or becoming; but instead voice your thankfulness to God. For be sure of this: that no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in thought or in life, or one who is covetous, who has lustful desire for the property of others and is greedy for gain -- for he in effect is an idolater -- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments for these sins, for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. So do not associate or be sharers with them.”

“LET IT NOT EVEN BE NAMED AMONG YOU”

(Ephesians 5:3-7, Amplified Bible and NKJV)

IN HIM

Our experience of God’s presence is not more real when we “feel” something – goosebumps and the like – and less real when we feel nothing, or at least it shouldn’t be. Our experience of God’s presence should be based on our oneness with the Godhead. Saints, our union in the Godhead is a constantly abiding reality. We are in Christ, Christ is in God, and Christ is in us… so God is likewise in us. And, we are the temple, the Holies of holies, of the Godhead, the place where God’s Spirit dwells: As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Our union with God is all of His doing and nothing of our doing, an act of amazing grace, imparting divine life into vessels wrought with imperfection, so that His Life might become our life, “for in Him we live and move and have our being.” Our life is “In Him”, nowhere else… but In Him. So… whether we “feel” anything or not is of little consequence and even less importance. The lack of feelings cannot in the least inhibit the amazing reality of our ever present God who states emphatically in His word: “Fear not for I AM with you … “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Never? Never! Nothing can hinder, restrain, or prevent God’s presence from overshadowing His saints.

Endnote: Feelings are, for the most part, what we do to our self when we acknowledge God’s presence, and the emotional circumstances surrounding the experience play a significant role, such as during worship or prayer. An overreliance on feelings as an indicator of God’s presence can erode our faith in God’s ever abiding presence, a bad thing! Our experience of God’s presence should be our knowledge of His word mixed with our faith in its undeniability: God is always present with us… Period! When feeling come we should embrace them as icing on God’s cake – unexpected but appreciated -- never forgetting God’s cake is awesome plain… without icing.

“THE LORD IS MY HELPER; I WILL NOT FEAR”

(Jn. 14:11,20; 1 Cor. 3:16-17, 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6; 16; acts 17:28; Is. 41:10; Heb. 13:5-6)

CHRIST IS OUR PORTION

Partaker: “One who has a portion, participates in, possesses or shares the nature or attributes of something.”: “For we have become partakers of Christ.” The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ; it is a participation in Christ. An “imitator” mimics the nature of Christ, professing a reality they do not possess. A “partaker” allows the nature of Christ to take control of their life and flow through them as their life. Self masquerades as Christlike, but only the indwelling Holy Spirit is Christlike. To be a partaker Self, our carnal fleshly nature, must give up the reins of control to the Holy Spirit of God so He can release the Christ-Life within.

Exceedingly great and precious promises have been given to us “that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature.” Christ is our portion. We participate in His life as He lives His life through us. We possess His indwelling nature... His DNA. At least this is the way our life is supposed to be lived. Saints, the real question is have we “become partakers of Christ”? To what extent are we possessing and releasing His nature -- His character, His virtues, His values, His attitudes -- in place of our old self-consumed Self-nature? We must transcend the natural realm, immersing ourselves in the supernatural nature dwelling within, relinquishing our Self-Life to be possessed by the Christ-Life. Saints, this is our overwhelming need, the only thing of importance after salvation, the only way to effectively fulfill God’s plans and purposes for our earth-life. We must relinquish control of our life through submission to the Lordship of Christ and death of Self: *To “be conformed to the image (nature) of His Son.” *To “become partakers of Christ”, partakers of His nature. *To “be renewed in the spirit of our mind.” *To “be transformed by the renewing of our mind.” *To “have the mind of Christ.” *To fully become Christlike! Nothing else will satisfy our Daddy...

 PARTAKERS OF CHRIST

(Heb. 3:14; 2 Peter 1:4; Eph. 4:23; Rom. 12:2, 8:29; 1 Cor. 2:16)

DEATH IS STILL OUR DESTINY

Saints are called upon to move against disease and suffering in prayer:

*Even though “for now we see in a mirror, dimly”

*Even though healing does not always occur

*Even though healing does not restore our glorified-body nature lost in man’s fall

*Even though healing does not stop the insidious disease of aging

*Even though we should be “eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body”

*Even though healing delays our translation through death’s door into the presence of the Lord, which is “far better”

*Even though healing is only a Band-Aid, a temporary fix, the desire of an earth-bound mindset

Hear the words of the Apostle Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better … For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven … Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee … We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

Saints are still called upon to move against disease and suffering in prayer. But remember, death is the destiny of every saint until the Lord comes to Snatch Away His Jewels... So, we have to die sometime… And, we have to die of something…

“WE HAVE A BUILDING FROM GOD,

A HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS,

ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS”

(1 Cor. 13:12; Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Phil. 1:21-23)