For the Gospel's Progress

This morning, the Lord Jesus reminded me of a writing he gave me in January of this year, so I went back and read it (1). It is called “Resting in Him,” and it is written mostly from personal experience, although it is also written from the knowledge of what others have shared with me about their experiences, too.

I truly sensed that this writing went perfectly with where I read for my devotional time with God this morning, which was in Philippians, chapter one. And, then I sensed that the Lord wanted me to paraphrase Philippians, chapter one, and to make it personal to my own life, so that is what I am going to do this afternoon, for this is where I am being led of the Lord.

Based off Philippians, chapter one

To my brothers and sisters by faith in Jesus Christ,

I thank the Lord for all of you, most of you whom I have never met in person, some of you with whom I have had conversations, and many of you whom I have never conversed with at all. Some of you I pray for by name, for your specific prayer requests, while others of you I pray for more generally, remembering you in my prayers for your encouragement and strengthening in the Lord. I pray, too, for your protection from the enemy.

Don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. If God is in you, he will help you through any and every situation which comes your way. Don’t let what others do to you or say about you make you feel less than who God has made you to be. Don’t let their opinions of you or their treatment of you get you down to where you are discouraged and God can’t use you, because you have been overcome by the enemy. Stand strong in your faith and in his mighty power and keep on keeping on, by his grace.

I am not speaking, though, to those who make sin their practice and then who use God and his grace as a cover-up for sin. For, God did not make you to justify or rationalize or excuse away your sin based on his grace and forgiveness. If believers in Jesus, one of whom you say you are, confront you with your sinful behaviors, because God is leading them to do so, this is not their opinion versus your opinion. So, don’t ignore what they are telling you, but take it to the Lord in prayer and deal with the sins at the cross.

But, all of you, whether you are Christians by practice or by profession only, I have you in my heart, and I pray for you, either for your strengthening in the Lord, or for you to come to your knees in humility before God and to repent of your sins and to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life.

I pray for you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, too, as well as for myself, that you may grow in your knowledge and in your understanding of God’s love, and that more and more you will put his love into practice in your daily lives. I pray for you, as those who love God, that you will be obedient to Christ and to His Word, and that you will be faithful to Him in all things. And, I pray that you will love others with His love – a love which is based in purity, holiness, honesty, righteousness and integrity, and which does no harm to others. I pray that you will treat others like Jesus treats us.

The goal of all of this, though, is not just for our daily sanctification by the Word of Truth, by the Spirit, but in order to secure our eternal salvation and heaven as our eternal destiny. Yes, that is what I just said. For, the Bible says that over and over again. Even Paul said that we must run the race God has laid out for us in a way as to get the prize at the end of the race. He said that we do this to get a crown which will last forever. And, then he said that he disciplines himself spiritually so that after he has preached to others, he himself will not be disqualified for the prize. Amazing! (See 1 Co. 9:24-27).

On a more personal note

On a more personal note, now, I want you to be aware of my sufferings for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of the gospel of our salvation, so that you can join with me in praying for me, and in encouraging me, and in cheering me on in the race which God is having me to run. And, also that you might be encouraged by what God is doing in and through me for his glory on account of all that he has allowed me to suffer for his name.

As a child, I was abused by my father in many ways, including sexually, and I was emotionally neglected by my mother, although she took very good care of my physical needs. And, other men tried to abuse me, as well. But, I believed in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior about 60 years ago, and he is the one who sustained me through it all, who gave me regular comfort and encouragement, and who loved me in a way in which I never knew before.

Then, I met my husband, who was then not my husband, obviously, and we became fast friends. He made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. And, I believed him. But, during our dating years he continually pressured me into sexually compromising situations, and then God would convict my heart, and then I would ask Rick not to go there, and I prayed that I would not go there, too, but time and time again that is where we ended up.

And, then we got married 46 years ago, and things did not get better. I was very determined to walk by faith in the Lord Jesus, but Rick was not. Even from before we were married he was already cheating on me with someone else, and that continued on and off again over the course of our marriage up until a few years ago. Plus, he had other extramarital affairs, and was involved in multiple sexual deviant behaviors, pornography addiction, masturbation addiction, lying, manipulating, abusing, bullying and using, etc. And, for a period of time, he dragged me down into the gutter with him, until the Lord lifted me out of that gutter. Praise His Name!

But, then he just got angry with me because I wouldn’t join him in his sexual perversions, and I said a final “NO!” to his attempts to get me back in sin along with him. And, then the abuse really got heaped on me big time! And, he began to strongly persecute me for my walk of faith with Jesus Christ and to try to discourage me, and to try to pull me away from my pure devotion to Christ, and to continually stomp on my heart all the while he continued to claim to be a follower of Christ.

But, fourteen years ago the Lord called me to this present ministry of writing out what he teaches me through his Word and to place it on the internet so that the internet (the herald) could “Run With It.” For 14 (+) years I have been faithful to that calling, and I have walked in purity, and I have not given in to my husband’s attempts to drag me back down with him, although he has certainly tried hard to get me back there.

And, the Lord then began to open up my eyes to who my husband really is, in character, and to many of the things he was doing against me when I was not looking. And, the Lord began to have me confront my husband, and sometimes he did confess, but the behavior patterns towards me continued, although he kept promising change. But, change never came, just more of the same, recycled over and over and over again. And, that is where we still are today, although he claims, again, to have surrendered to Jesus Christ.

For the greater progress of the gospel

The thing of it is, though, God is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made. He is still in control. And, one day I had to finally come to grips with that and to surrender to his sovereignty over my life, and that was a huge turning point in my life in the right direction. And, it was two years later that God called me to this present ministry, and I accepted that call on my life.

All of my life, though, whenever I was truly committed to Christ and to following him in truth, I faced much opposition, and much of that came from my husband or family members or church members or pastors. For, Satan was using them in my life to try to discourage me and to get me to fail and to give up. But, God was faithful, and he carried me through it all, and because of all that I went through, for the sake of the gospel, God made me stronger in him and even more determined to preach the gospel of our salvation far and wide so that many will be saved and have eternal life.

Because of all that I went through – the abuses of my father, the abuses of the church and church leaders on my life, and the abuses of my husband – I learned to rely on God and not on myself. Jesus became my husband and God the Father, my father. Thus, I became very passionate about holiness, truth, integrity, purity, righteousness, godliness, love, and faithfulness.

And, I felt much like Hosea, for God allowed this so that I would feel what he feels when his people turn against him and are not faithful to him but cheat on him with other lovers and follow after the lusts of their flesh and then lie about it. I know how God feels, because I experience that nearly every day. But, then I can communicate to others with the passion of Christ how God feels and I can passionately appeal to those walking in sin that you don’t want to go there, and to warn you of the consequences of continued disobedience, for I know about that, too, from personal experience.

So, my appeal to you today is that you not go where I went when under pressure, that you not cave to the temptations of the enemy, and that you not allow persecution to discourage and to dishearten you so that you don’t walk in obedience to your Lord. For, we were all called, not only to obedience to Christ and his Word, but also to suffer for him, that we might become more like him, and that he might use us for his glory and for his purposes to bring many people to faith in Jesus Christ before our Lord returns. So, don’t give up. Believe God! And, follow HIM always!

Believe Him

An Original Work / July 15, 2013

My heart cries: Lord, won’t You hear me

Seeking You for the answers

To my heartache and questions

I have concerning my life?

Speak, Lord, to me right now.

“Oh, dear one, why don’t you trust Me

With your life’s circumstances?

Give your all on the altar

In submission of your will

To My purpose for you.

“Surrender your life completely

To your Lord and your Savior.

He has all things planned for you

For His glory and honor.

He’ll work all things for good.

“Believe Him. He will fulfill all

Of His promises to you

For your life and your future.

Trust Him. Rest in His love.

He’ll give you peace from above.”

https://vimeo.com/115945593

Sunday, September 30, 2018 –

(1)        Resting in Him - https://walkingwounded.blog/2018/01/17/book-chapter-eight/

Fully Surrendered

A Pharisee named Nicodemus came to visit Jesus at night. He began his conversation with Jesus with a statement seemingly intended to flatter Jesus, i.e. “to praise someone in order to get something that you want, especially in a way that is not sincere” (Macmillandictionary.com).

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3 NASB)

Jesus saw right through Nicodemus’ flattery, and he got right to the point of the matter. He knew what was in the man’s heart. He knew his motivation for coming to talk with Jesus at night. And, so he spoke right to the heart of the man, and he told him what he needed most.

But, Nicodemus didn’t understand, not because he didn’t know the scriptures, for he did. He possessed great knowledge of the Word of God. Yet, he didn’t understand Jesus’ words because he would not believe what the scriptures taught with regard to Jesus Christ, their Messiah and Lord (God), and with regard to our salvation.

Nicodemus responded to Jesus’ words with the mind of the natural man who is not able to discern what is of the Spirit. He thought Jesus was talking about physical birth, so Jesus went on to clarify his statement even more:

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” (John 3:5-7 NASB)

Many people have taken these words totally out of context and have made them say something they don’t intend to say, so just let me say upfront that this is NOT talking about baptism when it uses the term “water.”

For, in context, Jesus was speaking of natural birth by water from a woman in contrast to spiritual birth which is of the Spirit of God. He was letting Nicodemus know that he not only had to be born physically, but that he had to be born spiritually of the Spirit of God if he wanted to have eternal life with God. He had to be “born again,” only this time of the Spirit.

And, being “born again” is like starting over again, not as a human baby, but in the spiritual realm. For, we are born with sin natures, separate from God, without hope. Now we are born of God, and we are cleansed of our sins, and we are delivered from the control of the sin nature over our lives. Now, in the power of God’s Spirit living within us, we can walk in holiness and purity and righteousness, and we can live lives which are pleasing to God and which can be used of him for his glory and for his purposes and will.

But, many people today, just like Nicodemus, claim to know God, and they may even have much knowledge of scriptures, too, but yet they will act ignorant of those truths because they don’t want to believe what they teach. For, believing would mean that they would have to act on what they professed, and many professors of Christ want to remain in their sins.

Nonetheless, Jesus provided the way out from underneath our slavery to sin via his death on a cross, so that we might be saved through Him.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17 NASB)

One of the drawbacks to translations of the scriptures into various languages is that not all languages share the same verb tenses. For, from the original language in which this was written, the word “believes” should be translated as “believing,” for it is present tense, not past tense.

In other words, we can’t “believe” in Jesus past, and have that secure for us eternity with God if we don’t believe in Jesus present tense. For, we must continue to the end, scripture teaches. We must hold on to the faith, and persevere, and walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have the assurance of our salvation and eternal life with God.

For, the word “believe” has to do with divine persuasion as to God’s holiness and righteousness, and as to our need to forsake our former lives of living for sin and self to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his will for our lives. Over and over again in the New Testament we are taught that we must walk in obedience to our Lord, and we must not follow after the flesh, or else what we can expect is eternal damnation not eternal life with God.

Many people read this scripture here, too, and they use it to claim that Jesus did not come to judge anything or anyone, but that is not true. There are other scriptures which state that he did come to judge, such as the one where he says he didn’t come to bring peace to the world but a sword, and to turn family members one against another.

He was not promoting that we hate and fight against one another, though, but he was making his followers aware of the fact that when we truly become his followers, in the truest sense of “follower,” that many of our family members may turn against us if they are not true followers of Christ, too. Jesus experienced this with some of his family members and neighbors and fellow “church” goers and “church” leaders, and we will, also.

As well, Jesus did not mince words when he told the people plainly the cost of following him. He said we have to leave it all behind to follow him. We have to deny self and take up our cross daily and follow him in obedience to his Word. For, if we hold on to our old lives of living for sin and self we will lose them for eternity. Yet, if we lose our lives for the sake of Christ, i.e. if we die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness, then we will have eternal life with him (See Lu. 9:23-25; cf. Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24).

So, if we die with Christ to sin so that we might live with him to righteousness, in the power and working of the Spirit within us, then we do not come under condemnation. But, if we choose to keep our old lives, and to keep our sinful addictions, and to walk in them instead, then we are already judged.

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:18-21 NASB)

And, what is that judgment? Basically, we are all given a choice to believe in Jesus or to not believe in him. All of mankind has had God revealed to them through his created works so that none of us have any excuse for not worshiping the One and Only True God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For, it is not that we don’t know of God or that we can’t see his divine character through the things which he has created, but that we choose to follow him or we choose to follow our own flesh, instead. And, we will reap what we sow.

So, what is belief? It is to choose Jesus, and it is to choose to walk in the Light and no longer in the darkness. It is not just acknowledging who he was and is, and what he did for us. It is not just accepting his forgiveness, too, because without repentance there can be no forgiveness. Belief in Jesus means we leave our lives of sin behind us and we now walk in His light and in His truth according to His will and in His power and strength within us. It is surrender to our Lord in every area of our lives because we love him and we want to serve him with our lives because of what he did for us, too.

A Believer’s Prayer

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

https://vimeo.com/114796263

Saturday, September 29, 2018, 6:00 a.m. – Thank You, Jesus, for giving your life up for us on that cross and for coming back to life so that we can die with you to sin and live with you to righteousness. Amen!

Flesh or Spirit?

Persuasive Words or Spirit Power?

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NASB)

In our world today, we have many men and women who are wise in the ways of this world, who are gifted orators, with smooth tongues, with charming personalities, and winsome tactics. And, I am not talking about just people out in the world, but I am speaking also of those who profess the name of Jesus, many of whom are pastors of mega churches, and even small church congregations (church in the sense that most people call it).

Many of these people are trained in how to be persuasive, and in how to manipulate and use people for their advantage, in order to grow their churches (businesses). They are trained in marketing techniques and in the use of gimmickry, games, stage productions, and humor, etc. in order to draw in the masses and to keep them coming back for more. So, their wisdom is based in the wisdom of this world, and it is not of God.

But, this is not how we are to be. This is not how the church is to operate, either, for the church is the people, not a business. It is a living organism, not a human-based organization. The “building” of this church is not a physical building but a spiritual one with Christ as the chief cornerstone and with us, the people of God, as the stones which make up this building.

So, we are to be totally dependent on our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit living within us to guide us and to lead our gatherings. God is the one who builds his church and who makes it grow, for its growth is not through attendance at meetings or through “church” memberships or even baptisms, but real church growth is through people being added to the body of Christ through death to sin and living to righteousness, through faith in Jesus.

So, when we share Christ with people, we are to share him in the power of the Spirit within us and in the wisdom that only comes from God through the Holy Spirit speaking his truths into our hearts and minds. And, we are to share him according to the whole counsel of God in scripture, and not use human tactics to please the flesh of man. Then, when they truly trust Jesus to be their Savior, hopefully their faith will be true faith. For, it will be based on biblical truth, in context, not on human wisdom which often placates sin and undermines the cross of Christ being lived out in our daily lives.

Godly Wisdom or Human Wisdom?

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,And which have not entered the heart of man,All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. (1 Corinthians 2:6-13 NASB)

So many of today’s preachers and Bible teachers are relying on human wisdom over and above the wisdom of God. “Bible studies” are often studies of books written by mere humans with select scriptures intermingled between the thoughts of these human authors. Scriptures are often taken out of context or are conformed to the thoughts of man rather than man (humans) being conformed to the thinking (mind) of God.

Marketing books are replacing the Holy Spirit as the guidance of the church. Many feel good highly repetitive songs are replacing hymns and spiritual songs which are deep in the truths of scripture and its application to our daily lives. Sermons are often “canned,” because they are borrowed from others or are found on the internet already prepared, so they lack the power of the Holy Spirit in them, because they came from man, not from the Spirit.

It becomes really obvious that many of these sermons originated in the mind of man, and not of God, if you watch (listen to) a variety of them from various preachers, for you will begin to notice common elements among the messages themselves that are humanistic, plus you will notice common preaching techniques among the preachers, which are also of man. And, what should become really apparent is how the sermons are often geared more to entertain the people and to appeal to their human flesh.

You won’t hear many of these pastors preaching the cross of Christ in the life of the believer in Jesus in the sense of our need to die with Christ to sin and live with him to righteousness as part of the faith which saves us. For, those who are truly teaching what Jesus taught will not have people coming to hear them preach by the droves, at least not here in America. Or, if the people do come initially, once the “hard” teaching becomes apparent, they will desert only to find for themselves preachers who will tickle their itching ears by telling them what their flesh wants to hear.

Discerning the spirits or The Spirit

But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 NASB)

So many people are fleshly minded, even many who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. In our sin nature, this is how we are, but if we believe in Jesus Christ, we are to no longer be that way. For, the Spirit is now living within us, thus we have the mind of Christ, and we should be able to discern the difference between what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit. Yet, I do know that this is also part of our process of sanctification, too.

If we have Christ living within us, though, because we have died with Christ to sin, and we have been resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, then we should have the mind of Christ. Thus, we should be accepting of the things of the Spirit, not rejecting of them because they conflict with our flesh. We should not be looking for loop-holes to excuse away our sinful behaviors, but we should desire to submit to Jesus Christ with our lives.

I see so many people who claim Jesus as Savior, though, live just like the world, and have little regard for the commands of their Lord or for holiness and purity and integrity being lived out through their lives. And, yet they will say that they look forward to the day when they get to go to heaven, but it is usually in the context of reuniting with some deceased loved one more so than it has anything to do with being with our Lord face to face.

Thus, they appear to be living more in their natural man state than in the Spirit, which then brings into question whether or not they were really ever in the Spirit of God. For, if they were, they should have the mind of Christ within them, and they should be able to spiritually discern the things of God. But, many do not even seem to have a consciousness of what pleases the Spirit and what does not, but they still live according to the flesh.

So, if that is where you are today, then please know what the Bible says about that. For, Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. If we, after having made a profession of Christ as Savior, still live according to our flesh, and not according to the Spirit, then we will die in our sins, not have the hope of eternal life with God (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-21; Gal. 6:7-8).

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken

With your Lord and Savior

And, your testimony is

Separate from Him.

Your words not matching

Your actions today.

Repent of your sin and

Bow down and pray.

Live what you testify

In truth always.

Purity’s lacking in

Your life and witness,

For you profess one thing,

But other you do.

Not moral, spiritual.

Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to

What you confess.

Lying about it

Puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice,

‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness –

None of it true.

Your heart is not given

To your Lord God.

Because of how you live,

You are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and

Give your life to God.

https://vimeo.com/287303934

Friday, September 28, 2018 – Lord, I pray for all who have read this today that they will realize that their salvation is not guaranteed them if they do not submit to you as Lord of their lives and thus walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!

Treasures in Heaven

Matthew 6:19-21 NASB

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

There Our Hearts Are

Is it wrong to have material possessions? No! Is it wrong to have wealth? No! Many godly people listed in scripture were blessed of God with wealth and with material possessions. Thus, it is not wealth or possessions, per se, which are wrong, but it is the love, the pursuit and the treasuring of these things in our hearts which is sinful in God’s sight.

There are also many people who have wealth and possessions who use their wealth and their possessions to help others who are less fortunate, or to support good causes, or to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world. So, possessions are not evil. It is what we do with them or how we view them that makes our pursuit of them either for good or for bad.

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:10 ESV).

The point of this is that worldly possessions should never be our gods. We should not crave more stuff that we don’t need to fill huge houses that we also don’t need if they are not being used to minister to the needs of others or to supply our own reasonable and fundamental needs.

In other words, our sights should not be set on the things of this world which are only going to perish, but we should be setting our sights and our hearts and our goals on what has eternal value. And, we should be ministering God’s love and grace to those who need the Lord and who need to be encouraged and strengthened in their walks of faith with God.

Our hearts, minds, passions, and emotions, etc. should be centrally focused on Jesus Christ and on doing his will for our lives, and in sharing his gospel and in loving others with Jesus’ love. This is where our treasure should be that we are laying up for eternity, not in the things which will pass away.

Matthew 6:22-24 NASB

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

One Master, Not Two

The eye is not just the physical organ in our human bodies which allows us to see things, but it also represents our ability to exercise common sense, discernment, wisdom, perception, and intuition, etc. The eye also represents the center or the focal point of something, such as it can represent our inner being, or our soul or spirit, i.e. the real us – who we are in character.

In this context, I believe that both the physical eye and the eye as the center of our being, which includes our ability to judge and discern, etc., are at play here. For, our physical eyes can often be windows into our souls, as well as our spirit, as an eye, will be what will come forth in our attitudes, speech, thinking and actions. Also, what we choose to look at and how we look at those objects or people can speak volumes about our characters.

The eye also symbolizes the light that is within us, even if that “light” is darkness and not light. For light is what shines forth from our lives, from the core of who we are, and it is what reveals who we really are. So, if it is darkness, that is what will be revealed. But, it can be disguised to look like light, for Satan is an angel of light and his servants can thus be liars and deceivers who masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness.

Basically, we reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap corruption and destruction. If we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. If our “eye” is full of darkness and not light, although we may profess to be in the light, the fruit of our lives will reveal the eye for what it really is. So, if we claim that we are in fellowship with God, but we are still walking in sin, we lie and do not live by the truth.

For, we can’t serve God and ourselves, too. We can’t serve God and the flesh at the same time. We will love one and hate the other. So, if we are living to please our flesh, and we are living in sinful addictions, we can’t please God, and we are not serving God, but we are serving the flesh, and the two cannot coexist, although many people certainly think they can.

Matthew 6:25-34 NASB

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Worry is Not Good

I think a lot of people get caught up in lusting after the things of the flesh and of this world and the possessions of this world because there is an emptiness inside of them that they are trying to fill, but with the wrong things. And, many of them do so fully knowing that Jesus Christ is their only hope, and yet they reject him and the gift of his grace in order to remain in control of their own lives, and so they can keep on in their sinful addictions.

Fear is of the devil, unless it is the kind of fear which shows respect, honor, etc. or which invites wisdom and caution. The emotion of fear is not evil, though, for God gives us that emotion to let us know something is wrong or that danger is lying ahead, for fear moves us to some kind of action. But, when we let fear control what we do, and we live by it, rather than living by faith, then it is sinful, for it is not trusting God with our lives and with our circumstances, which says to God that we think he can’t handle whatever it is that we are going through.

A lot of people amass wealth in fear of their futures and how they will survive, but all that can be taken away in a flash with a market crash or a sudden change in the economy or a loss of job or income, etc. So, we should never put our faith in money or in possessions, but only in the Lord. And, we should not allow fear to rule our lives and our decisions, but to let the Lord rule our lives and to guide our decisions, including financial decisions.

For, worry never produces anything good. But, it can cause mental and physical health issues, which can then drain financial resources, and it can destroy relationships, too, if we let worry rule our lives. Yet prayer has the ability to change things, even if we don’t see immediate answers, and even if we pray for something for many years before we see the answer. For one, it changes our hearts, because it teaches us to rely on God and not on ourselves, so it grows us in our walks of faith with our Lord.

Bottom line here in all of this is that, instead of seeking after the things of this world to fulfill us or to complete us or to supply whatever needs we feel we have, we must seek God and his righteousness. Then, we will be fulfilled. Then, we will be satisfied with the very best! Then, we will have peace!! And, God will supply what we need, maybe not what we think we need or what we want, but he will supply what is truly needed in our lives which will help us to grow in him, to trust him more, and to be used of him for his glory in the lives of others, too.

A Believer’s Prayer

An Original Work / July 31, 2012

With my whole heart, Lord, I pray

To be Yours, and Yours always.

Lead me in Your truth today.

May I love You, and obey.

Lead me in Your righteousness.

When I sin, may I confess;

Bow before You when I pray;

Live for You and You always.

Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.

Life with You will never end.

You are with me through each day,

Giving love and peace always.

You will ne’er abandon me.

From my sin You set me free.

You died on that cruel tree,

So I’d live eternally.

Soon You’re coming back for me;

From this world to set me free;

Live with You eternally.

Oh, what joy that brings to me.

I will walk with You in white;

A pure bride, I’ve been made right

By the blood of Jesus Christ;

Pardoned by His sacrifice.

https://vimeo.com/114796263

Thursday, September 27, 2018 – Thank You, Jesus! Amen!

Rainy Days

It has been raining hard here for a week. It has been dark and dismal. I feel a head cold coming on, nose stopped up, and I have been struggling to stay awake throughout the day. I have had some dizziness during this time, too.

Yet, we are not flooded like many people are right now, who have had to abandon their houses, and the water keeps rising. We have a roof over our heads, and a dry and comfortable place to live and to sleep, for now. So, we have much to be thankful for.

All week long I feel like I have been under attack from the enemy. I have struggled to write several days. A few days I truly just did not feel like writing, so I prayed, and I was honest with God, and I just asked that he take over and be my strength and put his words within me, and he did.

I know that some of this is not coming just from the rain and from my physical condition, but from the condition of my marriage, too, which is not good. My husband still gives in regularly to the lusts of the flesh and lives in continual unfaithfulness and covers it with lies. But, lately he has been confessing more, eventually, but there is still this wall between us, and that weighs heavy on my heart sometimes, and that is where I was today.

Today I was definitely under attack in my emotions, so I just had to pull back from writing and spend some time getting refreshed in my spirit through prayer and through reading what God was teaching my brothers and sisters in Christ, and that encouraged and strengthened me much.

I was battling guilt over not writing today, but I just felt in my spirit that I needed to pull away and have a day to rest and to get refreshed before I could get back to work. And, the Lord encouraged me this evening that it was ok for me to do that, for we all need that sometimes.

Even Jesus had to leave the crowds sometimes and go off somewhere alone and spend time with his heavenly Father. So, we need to do that, too.

Refresh My Spirit, Lord  

An Original Work / August 8, 2011

Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30

Refresh my spirit, Lord.

Revive my heart today.

Move me to serve You,

Lord in all I do and say.

Be my heart’s one desire;

my spirit set on fire

In pure devotion, Lord,

to love you and obey.

Create within me, Lord,

a pure heart, this I pray,

So I can worship You

and yield to You always.

May all Your love and pow’r

be lived in me, I pray,

So I might love as You;

be Your witness today.

Jesus says, “Come to me

all you with heavy hearts,

And find in me your peace,

and give to me your all.

My yoke is light to bear,

‘cause I paid for your sin,

So you might be set free,

and purified within.”

https://vimeo.com/126092767

What's Your Practice?

1 John 2:1-2 NASB

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

When We Sin

Jesus Christ died for us in order to free us from the control of sin over our lives so that we would no longer walk (live) in sin, but that we would now walk in victory over sin and in Christ’s righteousness, in the power of his Spirit now living within those of us who believe in him. So, one of the goals of our walks of faith is to not sin, but that does not mean we won’t ever sin.

Thus, if we who are followers of Jesus Christ should sin, we don’t lose our salvation. Yet, our sin, until repented, can hinder our fellowship with the Lord and with one another, and it can hinder our walks of faith, too. But, because of Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin, we are not eternally condemned if we should sin. For, Jesus speaks to God the Father in our defense.

Thus, God is not standing up in heaven with a hammer hanging over our heads to strike us every time we should sin against him. He is a loving and merciful God, full of compassion. And, because Jesus once lived in a flesh body, he knows what it is like to be tempted to sin, and so he became our compassionate and merciful high priest to whom we can go when we do sin, to repent of that sin, and then he restores us, and we keep going forward.

Yet, on the flip side of this, we can’t confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and still live a life of sin. We can’t keep on living in our sinful addictions as though Jesus did not die to set us free. This is “where the rubber meets the road.” This is where our faith is tested to see whether or not our faith is genuine. For, if we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if we walk according to the Spirit, we will live for eternity with our Lord in heaven (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 6:7-8).

1 John 2:3-6 NASB

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Keep His Word

Obviously, this is not speaking about having to live a life of sinless perfection and absolute perfect obedience or “Wham!” we are eternally condemned once more. Again, context is everything. We must read this and other scriptures like it in the context of the book, as a whole, and in the context of the New Testament (New Covenant) teachings that are for the church.

For, if we could obey the law with absolute perfection, Jesus would not have had to die for our sins. But, because of the flesh, we were not able to be perfected through the law. And, that is why Jesus gave his life for us, for he became sin for us on that cross so that he might put sin to death, not just on that cross, though, but in our individual lives, too.

BUT, it is not those who merely profess faith in Jesus who are made righteous, but it is those who walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh who are made righteous (See Rom. 8:1-17).

Basically, it all comes down to lifestyle and to what we practice, for what we live and what we practice define who we are and what we truly believe. And, this is why our salvation is not a one-time experience, and “Bam!” we are in, and now we are headed for heaven no matter how we live our lives from that moment on. Our salvation has a beginning, but it is ongoing until the day when Jesus takes us all to be with him and our salvation is complete.

Thus, although we do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation, our faith in Christ means we repent of our sin and, in fact, daily we die to sin and self and we follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his will for our lives. Yet again, this is not speaking of sinless perfection, but it is talking about lifestyle and practice, for either we practice holiness or we practice wickedness, and we can’t do both at the same time.

1 John 2:7-11 NASB

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

If You Hate

To hate someone is the opposite of love. Love is self-sacrificial, not selfish. Love considers others’ legitimate needs above one’s own personal desires, especially for acceptance. Love does no harm to its neighbor, but only what is beneficial for them, for their good. And, love prefers what God prefers, which is what is holy, good, moral, pure, upright, godly and righteous.

Hate, on the other hand, will cheat others, lie to them, commit adultery against them, slander them, gossip about them, manipulate them and steal from them, etc. So, if we harm others for our own advantage, and for their disadvantage, it is hate, not love, although some will think they “love” the person they are treating with hate, because they confuse lust with love.

Yet, again, we are not perfect people, so we have to see this in the context that it is speaking about what we practice and how we live (lifestyle). Yet, being “not perfect” is never to be used as an excuse for willful, continued sin against Almighty God. Either our practice is to treat people with love or with hate, and we need to understand the difference, for if we practice hate, we don’t know God, and we are still walking in darkness, not in the Light.

1 John 2:15-17 NASB

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Don’t Love the World

This is not saying we should not love the people of the world. We should. We should love all people. We, though, are not to get entrapped by the things of this sinful world which lead us to follow after the flesh and not after the Spirit of God.

The things of this sinful world should not be what we desire, crave, have passion for, and get excited about. We should not bow down and worship the things of this world or to make them our gods. For, if this is our practice, again, we don’t have God or his love living within us. For, it is those who DO (practice) the will of God who have eternal life with God.

Praise the “I AM!”

An Original Work / February 24, 2012

Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,

Glorious in power, mighty in strength;

Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,

My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!

Perfect salvation my Lord provided

When He died for my sins on a tree;

Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,

When He arose, so I could be free!

I am so thankful for His forgiveness;

Grateful that He chose to pardon me,

Giving me new life full in His Spirit,

So I can serve Him; His servant be!

Walking in daily fellowship with Him,

Obeying Him whate’er He commands;

Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,

I will endure with Him to the end!

He gives me peace and calm reassurance

In times of sorrow, or in distress.

His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient

To meet me in my need for sweet rest.

Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.

My heart longs for You where’er I am.

Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit;

Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”

https://vimeo.com/125736554

Tuesday, September 25, 2018 – Thank You, Jesus, for dying for us on that cross and for being resurrected back to life so that we can die with you to sin and live with you to righteousness and have life eternal with you. Amen!

Don't Shrink Back

Hebrews 10:19-22 NASB

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We Have Confidence

Under the Old Covenant relationship God had with his people Israel, the temple of God was a physical building. God’s presence was found in an inner sanctuary within that temple, which was called the “Holy of Holies.” Only the high priest could go in there, once a year, to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. For, there was a veil which hung in front of this inner sanctuary which kept all other people from entering this room into God’s holy presence.

Nonetheless, when Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins, that veil was torn in two, which symbolically represented the fact that, via Jesus’ blood shed for us on the cross, we who believe in him can now enter into God’s holy presence. The veil that stood between us and God was no longer in the way. Our sin, which separated us from God, was now paid for, and through faith in Jesus Christ we could now be in fellowship with Almighty God.

The veil that stood between us and God, though, truly was not a physical curtain, but what the curtain represented, which is human flesh. Thus, Jesus had to die in order to put flesh to death, so that we could be liberated from our bondage to sin and the control the flesh had over our lives. Jesus Christ now became our high priest, who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our sin, his own life, which was given for us once for all.

The way in which we now enter into God’s holy presence, and we unite our hearts and lives with our God in heaven, is through faith in Jesus Christ, God the Son. Because Jesus died to put sin to death, through faith in him we die with him to sin so that we might live with him to righteousness. But, this is ongoing in our lives, for daily we must die to sin and self and live to him and to his righteousness. Daily we must, by the Spirit, be putting the deeds of the flesh to death in our lives, and daily we must be putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil schemes against us.

Hebrews 10:23-25 NASB

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Without Wavering

What is this confession of our hope? Our hope (confident assurance) is that, via faith in Jesus Christ, we are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Our sins are atoned for, they are forgiven, and we are no longer enslaved to sin but we are now servants of His righteousness. We can now walk in victory over sin and live holy lives, pleasing to God. We no longer have to walk in fear, but we can now walk in faith, in peace with God. And, the ultimate end of it all is that we get to spend eternity with our God in glory.

If we hold to this confession without wavering, then we don’t retreat back into living like we did before we trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. We don’t desert the faith at the first sign of opposition from the enemy. We persevere. We endure. We keep pressing on. We may stumble along the way, but we get back up, we repent, and we keep moving forward by faith in walking with our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will.

And, not only do we keep pressing on in our walks of faith, but we are concerned about our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, that they also walk in faith and in the Spirit of God, and that they no longer walk (in lifestyle) according to the flesh. For, if we walk according to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to the death the deeds of the flesh, we will live with Christ for eternity.

So, we encourage one another on in the faith. We spur one another on to love and good deeds done in the Spirit. We lift up one who has fallen, and we help him or her back on his or her feet (preferably male to male and female to female). We help strengthen one another in the faith, too, and we encourage holiness, purity, honesty, integrity and sincere devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ in one another. For, this is essential to holy living in this life and to our eternal security with God in heaven when we leave these fleshly bodies.

Hebrews 10:26-31 NASB

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

If We Go On Sinning

This is where “the rubber meets the road,” so to speak, i.e. “the point at which a theory or idea is put to a practical test” (Google).

There are many people today who are giving folks the idea that they can go on sinning (practicing sin) after they “believe” in Jesus, and that it doesn’t matter since Jesus already paid the penalty for our sin. But, that is not what scripture teaches. It is not that we never sin again, but if we truly believe in Jesus, which is ongoing belief, by the way, we die to sin so that we might live to his righteousness, and this happens daily and continuing on until the end. For, our salvation will not be complete until our Lord returns for us and he takes us to be with him forever, and our relationship with him is consummated.

Basically, what this is saying, and what much of the New Testament teaches is that salvation is not a one-time experience, then we live how we want, and one day we go to heaven. It is saying, too, that genuine faith in Jesus Christ ceases living to the flesh, but it now lives to God and walks (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. For, if we continue to live according to the flesh, we don’t have the hope of eternity with God, but a fearful expectation of judgment and of hell’s fury.

Hebrews 10:32-39 NASB

But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while,He who is coming will come, and will not delay.But My righteous one shall live by faith;And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Don’t Give Up!

Life can get really hard sometimes. Trials and temptations will come and go. We will have difficulties along the way. People will betray us, reject us and mistreat us. We can’t let these undo us. But, we must realize that God is absolutely sovereign over our lives and over all that he has made, and our suffering has not gone unnoticed by him. He has a plan for our lives, and he will work it all out according to his plans and purposes. We just have to surrender our lives to his will and trust him to work it all out for our good.

God allows trials and suffering in our lives, though, for his purposes. Through our difficult times, when we turn to him in faith, he matures us in him. He conforms us to his likeness. He increases our faith. We learn perseverance, which is needed for the next trials which come our way. And, we learn to rely on God and not on ourselves.

So, don’t let your trials push you away from God and back into your old sinful ways. Remain steadfast in faith in the power and working of our Lord in your life and cooperate fully with his work of grace in your life. Yield to the Lord and to his sovereign will over your life. And, keep on keeping on in your walks of faith and your commitments to follow your Lord in surrender to his will for your lives. Then, you can be assured that the victory is yours in Christ Jesus, our Lord, and that you can be at peace in knowing that you will spend eternity with God in heaven.

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/112351857

Monday, September 24, 2018, 4:11 a.m. – Thank You, Jesus, for these truths.