Living Water

Many within the church of today have forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ. They may have a form of godliness, and they may even be fully involved in religious activities, but they deny and reject Jesus Christ by their lifestyles. They have even made idols for themselves in the form of public figures, sports, TV, games, possessions, houses, cars, careers, personal intellect and appearance, leisure activities, entertainment, and/or sinful pleasures, etc. And, so Jesus Christ is barely on their radar, forgotten altogether, or else he gets only an occasional passing nod here and there.

They run their own lives, and don’t inquire of the Lord or submit to his will for their lives unless they are in trouble, and then they expect him to come through for them. They have forgotten the Living Water which springs up like a fountain within those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and they have chased after what can never satisfy. Some of them may have never truly trusted Jesus Christ with their lives, while others have, but have since wandered away and have gone after the things of this world. So, Jesus is calling for them to turn from their sin and their idols, and to surrender their all to Him.

Living Water / An Original Work / November 21, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

My people have forsaken Me,

Their Savior, who died on a tree;

Made idols, and they worshipped them;

So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.

Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.

Those who turn away from You will be shamed;

The Spring of Living Water left behind.

Living Water satisfies.

The thirsty, let them come and drink;

Believe in Jesus as their King;

The gift of Jesus given them,

So they will never thirst again.

Indeed, the Living Water flows within.

It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.

Eternal life in heaven promised them.

Living Water glorifies.

Oh people, won’t you come to Him?

Obey Him and repent of sin.

Let Jesus come and live within.

Surrender all your life to Him.

My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?

Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.

Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?

Living Water sanctifies.

https://vimeo.com/113088324

That You May Know

Monday, June 8, 2015, 7:30 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “My Sheep.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ephesians 1:15-2:10 (ESV).

The Hope (Eph. 1:15-23)

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul wrote these words to those who were in Jesus Christ by faith. He was thankful to God for them, and for their love, and he continually remembered them before God in his prayers. He prayed, first of all, that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him. Remember, back then, they didn’t all possess Bibles like many of us have available to us today, though still many do not. They didn’t have printing presses or computers and printers that could reproduce multiple copies of the Old Testament writings, as well as the writings of the New Testament, all of which had not been written at this time, I believe. And, they didn’t have these writings in multiple languages like we have today, either, nor easy translators like we have on our computers which can translate for us one language to another. Most of them probably only had what they had been taught or whatever hand-written copies of scripture they could get their hands on. But, what they did possess was the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus gave us to teach us all things, and to remind us of all the things Jesus taught when he walked the face of this earth.

…the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him…

So, Paul prayed they would be given a Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of God, in order that they might know God better, not just intellectually, but experientially. We, as followers of Christ, need to gain and possess spiritual wisdom, and then we need to exercise that wisdom in our walks of faith. Wisdom goes beyond just head knowledge. It includes understanding, spiritual insight, perception and good sense. I always think of wisdom as applied knowledge. We can know a lot of things, even a lot of things about God, but if we don’t apply what we know, then what good is it to us? So, to me, this is the spiritual insight to understand what the word of God is teaching us, by the power of the Spirit within us, and then it is the spiritual discernment to know how God’s Word is to be applied to our daily lives. Then, it is to be empowered of the Spirit to actually put what we know into practice in our lives, i.e. to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.

…having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…

What is my (your) heart? What does it do? Heart: “the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature” (M-W). The heart is emotion, compassion, personality, my (your) nature, affection, courage, inclinations, and where we feel sad or happy, etc. It is the center of our being – who we are, what we are about, and our character, etc. It is also the place where we sense conviction of sin, and where we are receptive to the gospel and to being obedient to Christ (See: Ac. 2:37; 16:14; Eph. 6:6; Col. 3:12). And, it is the place where we favor (entertain) iniquity, and where we are deceived (Ac. 5:3-4; 7:51; 8:21-22; 28:27; Ro. 1:21-24; 2:5; 16:18). In addition, it is the place where we experience spiritual cleansing of the Spirit, by God’s grace, via faith in Jesus Christ, and it is where the Holy Spirit dwells (See: Ac. 15:9; Ro. 2:29; 5:5; 6:17; 10:9-10; 2 Co. 1:22; Eph. 3:17).

What about the eye? The eye has to do with judgment and discernment. We need to be discerning in our hearts – the place where we are vulnerable to sin, where we are convicted of the Spirit concerning sin, and where we respond in faith and obedience to the Spirit of God when he speaks God’s words into our hearts (the real us). We need to be enlightened, i.e. educated, informed, instructed, edified, and counseled by the Spirit of God in the things of God – concerning his divine nature, character and will, and with regard to his purposes for our lives, so that we may know him better experientially and may walk (conduct our lives) in the light of his truth. If we are blessed to have Bibles in our possession, we need to be bathing our minds with the Word of God, in the study of the Word and in obedience to what the Word teaches us, and we need to be clearing our minds of all the junk that is in this sinful world so that we can hear clearly when the Spirit speaks his words to our hearts.

…that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you…

We can’t know the hope to which he has called us if we are not abiding in His Word, if we are regarding sin in our hearts, and if we are quenching or grieving the Spirit through disobedience. We can’t know this hope if we are filling our minds daily with the garbage this sinful world is offering, and if we are allowing ourselves to daily be entertained by the sins of others via TV, movies, the Internet, magazines, books, music and the like. We also can’t know this hope if we are investing our time and resources in listening to false teachers spread their lies and deceptions, and if we are not examining what they say against the Word of Truth so that we are able to discern what is true and what is false, and if we are closing our ears to the Spirit’s voice in favor of delighting ourselves in what tickles our itching ears and in what is pleasing to our senses.  

We need to have eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to receive what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches and to our individual lives. We can’t build doctrines of faith around single verses, taken out of context, while ignoring 95% of what the New Testament teaches us on the subjects of salvation, eternal life and holy living. We need to repent of our sins of idolatry and/or spiritual adultery, humble ourselves before God on bended knee, and submit our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit within us, forsaking our idols, and feeding our minds and hearts with the knowledge, wisdom and spiritual insight and discernment of Almighty God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Then, we will see clearly to see all that God has for our lives in the way of holy and righteous living, obedience to his commands, walking in his ways, following him wherever he leads us, and in doing what he says – all through the power and working of the Spirit of God within us, as we daily yield our hearts to his control.

Immeasurable Riches (Eph. 2:1-10)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

When we accept God's invitation to his great salvation, by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, then by the power and working of the Spirit within us we die with Christ to sin and self, and we are resurrected to new lives in Christ, "created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See: Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6-8; 2 Co. 5:15; 1 Pet. 2:24-25). We put off our old lives of living for sin and self, and we put on, by the Spirit, our new lives in Christ, which are to be lived in the power of the Spirit within us for the glory of God. This is what it means to be born of the Spirit – lives transformed (like in metamorphosis) by the Spirit of God away from living to sin and for self, to walks of faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

As followers of Christ, we should no longer follow the ways of this sinful world, and the ways of Satan, who is the spirit who is at work in those who are disobedient, as we once did when we were dead in our sins. As children of God, we should no longer live to gratify the cravings of our sinful nature, following after its evil thoughts and desires. God’s grace to us did not give us free license to continue in sin, as some would have us believe. No! God’s grace, which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, godly and upright lives while we wait for Christ’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14). We were bought with a price. We died to sin. How can we live in sin any longer? (See: Ro. 6). Don’t you know that if we continue to walk (conduct our lives) after the flesh, we will die? But if, by the Spirit, we put to death (present tense, progressive) the deeds of our flesh, and we walk according to the Spirit, we will live? (See: Ro. 8:3-14).

Some people like to write off these scriptures as “works-based salvation,” but it cannot be that if God’s word commands that is the way we must live, and that by living this way, not in our own power, but by the power and working of the Spirit within us, we prove ourselves to be his disciples (See: Jn. 10:27-30; 13:35; 15:8; 1 Jn. 2:3-6). It can’t be salvation by works if the scriptures teach that we must continue in the faith, and that our belief in Jesus must be present tense, i.e. continuous, for us to have the hope of eternal life. We are not being saved by works when we walk in obedience to Christ’s commands or when we walk in the Spirit and not according to the flesh, because the word teaches us that the righteous requirements of the law will be fully met in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, and that if walk according to the flesh, we will die. We can’t write off these scriptures just because we don’t like what they say, in other words.

Yes! It is true that we are saved by God’s grace, through faith, and not of works, lest any of us should boast that we deserved or that we earned our own salvation. We can’t! It is impossible! Our salvation is a gift from God to us, which he provided for us through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, while we were still dead in sin. So, we can take no credit at all! Yet, we must receive this gift by faith, and scripture teaches us clearly that faith in Jesus Christ means we die to sin and we live to righteousness (See: 1 Pet. 2:24), yet all in the power of the Holy Spirit, and not of our own flesh. Yet, our walks of faith are not absent of works, though not works of our own flesh, according to human will. Rather, by the will of God, and according to his plan and his purposes for our lives, we are his workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

My Sheep / An Original Work / June 24, 2012

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV84

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263

It's Over

Sunday, June 7, 2015, 7:18 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “The Party’s Over,” which is from the musical production, “Bells Are Ringing.”

The Party’s Over

Betty Comden & Adolph Green / Jule Styne

Artist: Judy Holliday

The party's over, it's time to call it a day

No matter how you pretend

You knew it would end this way

It's time to wind up the masquerade

Just make your mind up

The piper must be paid…

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thepartysover.shtml

Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ephesians 1:1-14 (NASB).

Predestination and Free Will (vv. 1-8)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

Because I am a human being, I have a finite (limited) mind. I think in terms of beginning and end. So, when I think of God as having always existed, although I accept that by faith, it is difficult, at times, for me to “wrap my mind” around that concept. Yet, in reality, God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – has always existed. He (they) created the world, and they (he) created humankind. Jesus Christ, God the Son, when on the earth, in human flesh, was fully God and yet fully man. He was God incarnate, and yet sinless, which is why he was able to be our perfect (spotless) Lamb sacrifice to take away the sins of the entire world.

Another difficult concept for some of us, as humans, is this idea of predestination, especially in light of scriptures which seem to suggest we have free will to receive Christ or to not receive him; to turn from our sin or to not turn from our sin. Many Christians are conflicted between the teachings in scripture on predestination and what appears to be free will. I admit that I do not have total understanding on either of those subjects, but I accept both, by faith, and believe that they coexist, and that they harmonize one with the other.

I believe that God chose us in Christ, even before he created the world, to be holy and blameless in his sight and to be adopted as his sons and daughters. And, I believe the chosen of God in Christ will come to Christ, if they have not already done so (See: Jn. 6:37). Yet, I also believe the scripture that says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (See: 2 Pet. 3:9), and the one where it says Jesus died, not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world (See: 1 Jn. 2:2), and the one that says that God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever is believing in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life (See: Jn. 3:16).

Yet, I don’t believe God would have me try to resolve predestination and free will right now. What I believe he would have me focus on in this passage today is what we were chosen to and for, and how that ultimately affects our future.

To and For

He chose us to be holy. “Holy” means to be set apart (different) from the world because we are becoming like Christ. He chose us to be blameless in his sight. When Jesus Christ died on the cross he took upon himself the sins of the entire world. Our sins died with him and were buried with him, and when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, hell, Satan and death. By his stripes we are healed. When we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, we die with Christ to sin, and we are resurrected to new lives in Christ Jesus, by God’s grace, through faith, in order that we might live to righteousness. All this is the working of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, as we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ in repentance and faith. By faith in Jesus Christ we are made righteous in God’s sight, because Christ’s righteousness is credited to our accounts. Yet, faith in Jesus Christ also means we walk in Christ’s righteousness and holiness, empowered by the Spirit.

He predestined us to be adopted as his sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the pleasure of his will – to the praise of his glorious grace. So, what is the pleasure of his will? It is that we be adopted, yet it doesn’t end there. We are not saved (past), and then life goes by, and then we go to heaven (future). There is an in-between. He didn’t save us just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He saved us so we would die to sin and live to righteousness (See: 1 Pet. 2:24). It is his will that we no longer walk according to the flesh, but that we walk according to the Spirit. These are those in whom the righteous requirements of the law will be fully met (See: Ro. 8:3-14).

It is his will that we walk in his love, and in his truth, and that we abide in him, and his words abide in us. It is his will that we follow (obey) him, and that we be his servants and witnesses. And, all this and more is for the praise of his glorious grace, because his grace which brings salvation teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to life self-controlled, godly and upright lives while we wait for Christ’s return. This is true grace!

The Party’s Over (vv. 9-10)

In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

I read several different plot summaries for the musical production, “Bells are Ringing.” They varied, one from the other, so I will share generally what I picked up from them collectively.

The lead role in the play (1956) was that of a woman named Ella who worked for Sue’s answering service, and as a switchboard operator. As best as I can surmise, Ella used her position in this company to listen in on her client’s phone conversations – to spy on them - in order to gather information about them, which she then used to meet them in person, but without revealing to them who she really was. As well, on the job she used fake identities with each of these people (clients), pretending to be someone different with each one. So, she was living a lie.

One of the clients was a man named Jeff. She fell in love with Jeff, and he with her. He invited her to a party. The people at the party were all pretentious and snubbed her, evidently, and she felt out of place. She realized her relationship with Jeff was founded on a lie, and so she left him. I believe that is when she sang the song, “The Party’s Over,” which is about stopping the masquerade, realizing she knew it would end this way, and that there would be consequences to pay for her deceit.

This reminds me much of all that is going on within our nation and with our government (nationally and globally) in the area of spying on the citizens of nations without them knowing, by listening in on their phone conversations, and reading their emails, text messages, social media or other chat messages in order to collect data on them which is to be used to classify people in various groups, particularly for the purpose of determining which ones they consider a threat to national security, or who might be anti-government, or who might be a religious “extremist,” etc.

Yet, it also reminds me of what I have read about the government engaging citizens to spy on their neighbors and to report things about them back to the government. One day all this information is going to be used against the people in this nation, and truly the party will be over then. What has been hidden behind closed doors will come out in the open. And, all hell will literally break loose. Yet, I also see that these who are the targets of the spying will not be the only ones to have their private lives on display for all to see. I also see that those who are doing these acts will also have to “pay the piper,” i.e. there will be consequences for their actions, too. One day all the lies will be exposed, and the party will be over.

One day, when the times will have reached their fulfillment, God is going to do some housecleaning, and he will put all things back in the order they were supposed to be. The church will not be excluded from this. He will cleanse his body of all its impurities, and he will revive his adulterous church, and he will expose all the lies and all the liars for what they are, and the church will no longer serve man as her head, or the government as her head, but she will truly serve only Jesus Christ as her only true head. When this happens, the party will truly be over. No more fun and games and role playing and pretending and wearing masks and spying and cheating and stealing. All will come crashing down. And there will be consequences to pay. And, then, life as we now know it will be over.

God made his will known to us, with a view in mind of this time at the end when he will judge the world, and “every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God” (Ro. 14:11; cf. Phil. 2:10-11). His will for us, his chosen, is for us to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be adopted as his children, in accordance (agreement; harmony) with his pleasure (what brings him pleasure) and will – to the praise of his glorious grace. It is his will that we be for the praise of his glory (v. 12). So, he works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (v. 11). So, God will do what is necessary to bring us, his chosen, into conformity to his will and to his purposes for our lives. And, I believe he will do it in judgment before the end in order to purify his bride so she is ready to meet her husband. And, what he is showing me today, I believe, is one of the ways in which he will purify her. He will allow spies to be used against her, and she will be severely persecuted, and via that persecution he will make his bride ready for the wedding banquet.

Much of the church in America has been living like church is a party where we are supposed to have fun and be entertained, etc. I believe the Lord is saying one day the party will be over, and all the masquerades will cease, and there will be consequences to be paid, but through it all God will accomplish his purposes and his will for his chosen ones who have been marked in Christ with a seal, “the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory” (vv. 13-14). 

Never Will I Leave You

5/11/11: I had this horrible headache (from an incoming or outgoing storm) all afternoon. I was sitting on the sofa crying and praying for Jesus (in His name) to heal me. Then He put this song, "Never Will I Leave You," into my heart to write as His message to me to comfort and encourage me, plus He removed the headache. Praise Jesus!

I can’t begin to number the times he has spoken these words to my heart during times when I felt lonely, rejected, betrayed, forsaken, abandoned, misunderstood and discarded by others. He has often reminded me that his words are true and that he is completely faithful in all he does. He has also reminded me of the purity of his love for me, and of how much value he places upon my life, especially during times when I feel devalued by others. As humans, we will fail each other, because we are flesh. But, God will never fail us. Amen!

Never Will I Leave You / An Original Work / May 11, 2011

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

“Never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you.”

Jesus is your Savior; love and comfort keep you.

He is your deliverer; Rock of your salvation;

Cornerstone, rejected by men; mighty God is He!

Hope of your salvation; He is your Redeemer.

He is living in you as your Lord and Master.

He will not forget you, nor will He neglect you.

He knows all about you; He will supply all you need.

God of your redemption’s perfect plan to save you

Sacrificed for your sin, so you’d be forgiven.

He loves and adores you; perfectly He made you

So that you might be His servant and child of the King.

https://vimeo.com/125966958

Getting Off-Course

Saturday, June 6, 2015, 1:09 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Muted Trumpet.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 6 (NASB).

Caught in Sin

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load.

Previously I had always, to the best of my recall, looked at this scripture purely in the context of a brother or sister in Christ who has fallen into sin, i.e. who has been overtaken by sin and who needs to be restored in his or her relationship with Christ back to fellowship with God and a continued walk of faith in Christ. Yet, as I studied this passage much closer, I realized that the “anyone” in this passage could refer to any human being, not just to Christians. As well, the “spiritual” could be a reference to all who are born of the Spirit, and the “restoring” could be a reference to what takes place when someone believes in Jesus Christ, for the fellowship and communion with God, which was lost when man sinned, was restored for us in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and is ours by faith in Jesus Christ.

So, whether we are helping a fallen believer to get back up on his feet, and to be restored in fellowship with Christ/God and in his or her walk of faith, or whether this is speaking of us sharing the gospel of our salvation with someone who is lost in sin and is need of hope, healing and restoration to God via Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for our sins, through faith in him, our attitude should be one of humility, love and kindness. We should remember that we were once bound in slavery to sin, and we should recall that Jesus Christ died for us, not because we were righteous or because we deserved his grace to us, but he died for us (all of humanity) while we were still steeped in sin.

So, we should show the same love to them as what Jesus showed to us. We should have compassion and mercy on them in showing them the way out from underneath the curse of or this fall into sin, and we should point them to Jesus Christ as the one who paid the price for their sin, and is the one who can save them and/or restore them back to fellowship with God and their walks of faith. Yet, we must always be on guard that, in helping a drowning person to be revived, that we are not led into sin ourselves. We should not think that we are so righteous that we could not fall, and thus leave ourselves wide open to be tempted. We must be wise and discerning, be prayerful always, and make sure we remove any logs out of our own eyes before we work to help someone remove a speck out of his or her eye.

Sowing and Reaping

The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

To sow something means “to plant seed for growth especially by scattering; to set something in motion; to introduce into a selected environment” (M-W Dictionary). “Seed,” besides being “a small object produced by a plant from which a new plant can grow,” is “the beginning of something which continues to develop or grow” (M-W). Basically, whatever we do with this life which God has given us, in essence, is planting seed, nurturing the seed, and results in some sort of growth or plant or fruit. To reap, thus, means “to get something, such as a reward, as a result of something that you have done” (M-W), i.e. the fruit.

So, if I spend my life living for myself and for my own self-pleasure, all I will receive in return, in this life, is some momentary gratification, which is fleeting, and which will perish. It will not amount to anything, and my life will have been wasted, and for what? Nothing! What will I have to show for my life? When I stand before God, do I think he is going to be impressed or satisfied with the fact that I spent my life living to please my own flesh? No! He did not put me on this earth to please myself and to do what is sinful. He put me here for his glory, and for his purposes, to do his will, and to live my life in submission to him, in surrender to the cross of Christ, and with the goal to please him in all that I do.

So, what does it mean when it says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked”? The Greek word which we translate as “deceived” means: “properly, go astray, get off-course; to deviate from the correct path (circuit, course), roaming into error, wandering; (passive) be misled” (biblehub.com). “Mocked” is: “properly, to turn up the nose, turning away to sneer; (figuratively) mock, scornfully disdain (contemptuously reject)” (biblehub.com).

We should not allow ourselves to get off-course and to deviate from God’s plan for our lives, or from the truth of his word, thinking we have the freedom to live for ourselves and still have the promise of heaven when we die. When we continue to walk in the flesh after we say we have been saved, and after we claim we have been given the Spirit as our guarantee of eternal life, we are showing great contempt and disregard for God and for the gift of life he has given to us through Jesus’ blood he shed on the cross for our sins. It is like we are sticking our noses up at God and are saying to him, “I don’t need you!” Yet, it will come back to bite us, both in this life and in the end of time when God judges us for what we did with his Son and with his gift of life, for God will not be mocked. We will pay in the end.

All throughout the New Testament we read that a “saved” life is one which no longer walks (conducts its life) according to the flesh (what is sinful), but is one which walks (progressively) according to the Spirit and by the Spirit, in the ways of God, and not in the ways of the flesh, in order to please God, and not to please ourselves. We learn that a “saved” life is one which has been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and has been made alive to God by the Spirit, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” In other words, we are not saved just so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. We have been, and are being, and will be saved when Christ returns so that our flesh can be put to death, and so we can live for righteousness. If we sow to please God, we will reap eternal life, and we will reap a spiritual harvest in our own lives and in the lives of all those whose lives we influence for the grace of God and for his purposes and for his glory.

Flesh or Spirit?

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

As I have stated before, circumcision is a non-issue in my world or in the Christian family here in America, so we have to read these passages of scripture and seek God for what meaning we might gain from this for our own lives. The requirement for circumcision, for one, was old covenant, and we are under the new covenant, so it does not apply to us. God did away with this requirement, so we are not bound to it, not that Gentiles ever were. Circumcision was also something done outwardly, not inwardly, and did not necessarily result in changed hearts and lives. Many of the things God did and required of his people under the old covenant were symbolic of things to come, which were fulfilled in Christ and in his death and resurrection, and in the gift of his salvation which he has given to us.

For instance, theirs was a physical temple built by human hands. Ours is a spiritual temple. God’s presence was in the Ark of the Covenant, which was inside the physical temple. Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, now dwells within the hearts of those who have been crucified with Christ and who have been resurrected to new lives in Christ Jesus, by the Spirit. We are now his temple, and he lives within us. Circumcision is now circumcision of the heart, which is the cutting away of our sinful flesh, not the cutting away of physical skin. The Holy of Holies now dwells within us. We no longer need human priests to sacrifice for our sins every year and to intercede for us, for Jesus Christ is our high priest who sacrificed his life for sin, once for all, and he now lives to intercede for us. The law and the prophets found their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, so we are now subject to Christ and to following after him.

So, why do so many people still hang on to so many of these things from the old covenant? Some do it because of tradition, or because it is what they have always been taught, and so they still have this idea that there is something sacred about these types of things, and they feel they are worshiping God when they do them. Some do it because they believe that they can earn their salvation through doing so many religious or good things, but then it becomes about what they are willing to do for God, rather than it being about submission to the cross of Christ. When they perform religiously, they are the ones in control. The cross means we are no longer the ones in control, but God is. Many people want to be religious, but they don’t want to be submissive. The cross means death, not just for Jesus Christ, but for our flesh, and that is a tough thing for many humans to relinquish.

Yet, for us who have truly come to the cross of Christ for salvation, the view we should hold is that, through the cross of Christ, we have been crucified (put to death) to the world and the world to us. We should no longer walk in the ways of this sinful world, but we should now walk in the ways of the Spirit, no longer living to please ourselves, but living to please our God. In this, we will know the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding.

Muted Trumpet / An Original Work / October 14, 2011

Softly He speaks gently to us,

Giving us His messages, and

He waits patiently for us to

Respond to His words.

Will you listen to Him speaking?

Will you waken from your sleeping?

He is calling; hear Him whisper

His truth unto you.

Jesus speaks His words unto us,

So that He might live out through us,

Giving light to all who need Him,

So they can obey.

He gave His life to die for us,

So that from sin He would free us

To walk humbly in obedience

Unto Him each day.

Hear the trumpet clearly calling.

He died to keep us from falling.

Won’t you listen; heed His call to

Turn to Him today?

Hasten to Him calling to you.

Turn from sin and follow Jesus.

He loves you so much He gave you

Life eternally.

https://vimeo.com/125739604

Keep Standing Firm

Friday, June 5, 2015, 8:48 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind this song:

Refiner’s Fire / Doerksen, Brian

Purify my heart,

let me be as gold and precious silver…

Refiner's fire,

my heart's one desire

is to be holy;

set apart for You, Lord…

Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Galatians 5 (NASB).

For Freedom

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

In my world, culture and day and age, the matter of circumcision as something necessary or not necessary for salvation has not been an issue, so I have to look at what lesson I (or we) can learn from this. What is at the crux of this whole discussion? It is that Jesus Christ, God the Son, was crucified on a cross for our sins in order to set us free from having to obey the whole law in order to be saved. He was our perfect Lamb; our sin offering. He became a curse; he who knew no sin became sin for us, so when he died, our sin died with him. As well, through his death and resurrection we were delivered from the curse of sin and death. We no longer have to obey God’s law perfectly in order to be saved. We are made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ, and not of ourselves. Yet, this faith means we die with Christ to sin, and we are resurrected with Christ to new lives, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” It means we now walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

Yet, there is another matter at work here, too. From what I understand, when Paul dealt with the church on the subject of them going back to following the law, as added on for their salvation, he was primarily referring to those laws which were external in nature, i.e. circumcision, observing special days and weeks, and ceremonial laws, some of which the Jews had added on to, in order to make them even more burdensome. Many people today live their lives as though they believe that external forms of religion contribute in some way to their salvation, but they do not. God looks at the heart, not at what is on the outside. He is concerned that we are circumcised of the heart, not that we have gone through some religious ritual. We are not made more holy or more righteous because we attend a meeting at a particular building on a particular day in the week. God’s true worshipers are those who worship him in spirit and in truth, and are those who give him their lives to obey him.

There is also another aspect to this not discussed in this particular section of scripture, and that is that Jesus Christ set us free from slavery to sin so that we can walk in the Spirit in Christ’s righteousness and holiness. So, once freed, we are not to return to a yoke of slavery to sin, either. Some people preach that this freedom frees us from all obligation to have to repent of sin or to obey Christ’s commandments, but that is not what scripture teaches. We can’t keep the whole commands of God because we live in flesh bodies which are subject to sin. So, Jesus Christ took our place on the cross so that, through faith in him, we might be made righteous in God’s sight. Yet scripture is quite clear that faith in Christ means submitting to his Lordship, to his righteousness and to death to sin and living for God. Our freedom in Christ is not license to continue in sin. May it never be!

Who Hindered You?

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

So, I see on one side of this that Jesus Christ died to set us free from the requirement of the law that we live in sinless perfection, i.e. that we keep the entire law in order to be saved. He was the only man who walked the face of this earth who never sinned, although tempted, and so he became our perfect (spotless) Lamb sacrifice so that now we are no longer under this curse of the law, but we are now free in Christ, but not free to live however we want; not free to continue in sin. Our righteousness before God is not based in sinless perfection. It is based in Jesus Christ who became sin for us, and who put sin to death on the cross. Yet, faith in him, by the very nature of the word “faith,” means we live our lives like we believe he also died to free us from slavery to sin, only not in our own flesh, trying to earn salvation, but in the power and working of the Spirit within us, as we submit our lives to the Spirit and we cooperate with him in his work of grace in our lives.

So, we should stop listening to those who are trying to put us back under slavery to having to keep the whole law in order to be saved, or who are trying to convince us that Christ’s death on the cross means freedom from having to turn from sin and obey Christ whatsoever. This passage in Galatians makes it quite clear that, although set free from having to obey the law with absolute perfection in order to be saved, this freedom does not mean we are now free to indulge in the sinful nature without penalty. Scripture teaches that if we continue on a course of conducting our lives according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, we will die in our sins (See: Ro. 8; 1 Jn. 1). The real offense of the cross, I believe, is not just that Jesus Christ died to sin, and lives to God (Ro. 6:10), but that we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6:11).

Walk by the Spirit

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

As true followers of Jesus Christ, we are to no longer continue to conduct our lives according to the sinful nature, but we are to be on a continuing course of living our lives by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and according to the Spirit of God. If we should sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who gave himself up for us, and whose righteousness is our defense (See: 1 Jn. 2:1-2). We should repent, and we should continue to follow the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives, submitting to his Lordship and to the cross of Christ in our lives. Yet, if we think that Jesus Christ, now that he has saved us by his grace, is no longer concerned about whether we sin or not, or else if we think that us walking in his holiness is optional, then we need to think again, and we need to get into the word, and read it verse by verse, and chapter by chapter, and see what it says.

Again, although free to not have to live in sinless perfection in order to be saved, we are not free to continue to live (walk) in sin. If we walk according to the flesh, we will die, but if, by the Spirit, we put to death (present tense, suggesting continuous action) the deeds of the flesh, we will live (See: Ro. 8:12-14).

Refiner’s Fire / Doerksen, Brian

Purify my heart,

let me be as gold and precious silver…

Refiner's fire,

my heart's one desire

is to be holy;

set apart for You, Lord…

Give Me Jesus, Oh What Gladness

In James 4 it talks about fights and quarrels among God’s (or all) people because of hedonistic desires which rage (battle) within them. They fight, quarrel, kill and covet in order to feed and to satisfy their self-indulgent devotion to pleasure and happiness as a way of life. They seek self at the cost of others. They desire and choose pleasure over God. In today’s culture, which is extremely pleasure-driven, this is a serious problem. It is one which ruins entire households, breaks up marriages, and destroys our relationships with our Savior and God, Jesus Christ. And, it is epidemic in today’s world.

So, what should our response be to all this? What is the solution to this problem? The remedy for lives given over to selfish and pleasure-driven desire at the cost of all other relationships is to desire Jesus Christ, his love and mercy, his forgiveness, his restoration and renewal and a walk of faith in him that is undivided in loyalty and commitment, which puts Jesus first and which chooses to love others as we love ourselves or as Christ loves us.

Give Me Jesus

Oh, What Gladness!

An Original Work / December 2, 2013

Give me Jesus. He’s my Savior.

I’ll walk with Him in His favor.

I’ll abide in His love always;

Follow His ways to the end.

Jesus is the Son of God.

He died upon a cruel cross.

He’s forgiven all my failures

By His mercy and His love.

Give me Jesus – His compassion,

And His mercy; loving kindness.

Let Him teach me how to love Him,

And to please Him. He’s my friend.

Jesus died for all our sin

So we could have eternal life.

He will free you from your bondage

If you trust Him with your life.

Give me Jesus. Let me trust Him.

May I listen to His teachings.

May I follow where He leads me

In His service. He’s my Lord.

Jesus Christ will come again

To take His bride to be with Him.

Oh, what gladness; free from sadness

When I meet Him in the air.

https://vimeo.com/113054381