A prerequisite for new birth in Christ, salvation, there must be repentance. There is no repentance until there has been a recognition of my own sinfulness, and desperate need for God.
So few are saved. So few know they are unworthy. So many think their good works make them fit for the Kingdom of God. Jesus has told us in many ways this truth yet so few know it.
Good works are a dime a dozen yet dead works, because they are done with a heart of flesh.
True repentance is easy to spot. It has so mutilated a heart of flesh, that all that heart can do is to grab hold of Jesus’ garment. We have religion by the truck loads. We have Jesus claimers by the truckloads. We have true repentant, born again believers in short supply.
God says in Ecclesiastes that He gives wisdom, knowledge and understanding to those in whom He delights.
Amen
Who has them? Jesus does. Who else? To whom soever He gives them. To whom does He give them? He gives them to those He can trust with them…the inner circle. A mature believer has the keys if He has given them to him.
Who is the mature believer? He is sanctified. God has sanctified him and He has told him so. This is the believer who God sends out and has power over sickness and unclean spirits. He has the power given to him by God to bind on earth and in Heaven what he sees fit. He has the power given by God to retain or remit sins…all as God’s ambassador.
He operates with the full mind of Christ and at all times. He is a doer if the word and not a hearer only.
The fervent and effective prayers of the faithful avail much.
Bless Him for such goodness that He would welcome to His table all who will come.
Amen.
I remember once a long time ago in a women’s Bible study, a sweet young girl said something so profound to our group that it made an impression, and I have found myself using this truth time and again.
You might be in a dark time, and you might just be in the blues, but in both situations the same truth applies.
Remember how it was in the light, go back there in your heart and mind in order to be refreshed and to gain a true perspective. A true perspective for the believer is always light, and bright light at that.
My husband was telling me about a story he heard on TV and it was bringing him to tears. It was hurting my heart too until I went to Jesus with it and got His viewpoint and immediately the agony of heart left.
David called this “encouraging yourself in the Lord”. We do this by remembering His faithfulness in the past. If I am sitting on a boring day, stuck in one place and having a particularly lonely time, many sad thoughts flooding my mind, I have learned to stop and go back to where I know the Light is. It always re adjusts my thinking and I am out of the blue funk in a blink, and able to deal with the blue time in a real way…fleeting and temporary.
My favorite day of the week is Monday. Here’s why: I love the routine and comfort of my ordinary life. I’m not that fond of weekends really and especially dislike holidays except for Passover, Thanksgiving and birthdays and anniversaries. Weekends tend to be too loose, a little boring unless there is a project going on, and can just be kind of blah if I know there are people in my life who are alone on these days and possibly sad and I can’t really do that much to help.
Monday is wonderful because the world starts up again and things are moving and things are getting done. For me, I either will have an appointment with a customer, then make my way back home to sew for a few hours, or I’ll stop by my daughters house to watch the grandchildren awhile while she sews a bit, and then make my way home.
While I sew I turn on my favorite Bible teachers and listen to fantastic teaching and news while I sew. Usually around 3-4 my husband calls and says he will be home soon and we go grab coffee and maybe look at some potential property to buy, and pay the kids a visit. Back home after that, and it’s time to make supper and settle in for the night. It’s a dreamy life for me and I treasure every second of it.
So on a blue day, for whatever reason it’s blue, I will go back to Monday in my mind when I am at my sewing machine with my teaching playing and then coffee with my husband. This is light to me. It is all filled with God’s presence and His goodness, and hope abounds, and eternity is within reach in my minds eye. Pure joy.
When all is light, perspective is clear and true. For the believer, it is filled with expectation of eternity with God, and it’s right around the corner, and it is what my heart longs for. It is New Jerusalem coming, and soon, and it’s where all is right, well, eternally well and is where my heart belongs.
Remember the Light. When darkness comes in any degree, remember the Light.
Amen
Chapter 15 of Crucified, Getting the Mind of Christ
Are we in the very last moments? I believe the answer to that question is yes. How long will it be? I don’t know. But I I have a new understanding of what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us in the word. With a close look we can see something. I know that it is widely understood that Jesus said even the Son of Man new not the day nor the hour but only his Father in heaven new.
But He knows now. This is why: Jesus did lay down some of His omniscience while He was here in the flesh. At the time He said that, He did not know. But when He returned to His glory He knew… He is God; the fullness of God… He knows.
Beginning with that thought, I am going to add here something that was really all tied together for me just the day before yesterday. It is a pretty solemn and serious message and I am not writing it as doctrine, but I strongly believe that the Scriptures paint a clear picture of what I am going to say.
This book has been finished for a very long time now but because of what I believe God showed me, I am pressed to add it here at the end. It is a message that I kept coming to from the very moment I started writing this book. It was something I did not want to think about, so I barely touched on it in the book. I hint to it but really that is all.
Well… I want to just come out with it and connect all the scriptures that seem to me to tie a knot of truth that I just can’t and tie. I keep coming back to the realization that it has to be what the word is saying. I realize that it is going to sound weird for a minute. But then just look at all the Scriptures and maybe it will become evident that what I am saying is not without merit and may in fact be true.
I believe that God is sending out a very specific message today to entice and even warn the body of Christ to “awaken to righteousness”. He has given messages of righteousness to countless believers throughout every generation. Well I think this generation is different, and very special. I think we may be the raptured generation.
This book is meant to encourage fullness in Christ. I know that God gave it to me because I never would have known any of this on my own. The way the book unfolded still has me totally amazed and dazed. He unfolded it to me and I really put forth very little effort other than obeying and writing what I was shown in the word and tying scriptures together to form this message of entire sanctification.
The word says that God‘s desire for the believer is that they would become fully sanctified (spirit, soul and body). The word also teaches that entire sanctification comes through death to self rule while alive or through physical death. All saved people will be sanctified fully but some will be sanctified fully while alive in this life. This is fullness in Christ. There must be a crucifixion with Christ. Crucifixion means a death must occur; either death by letting go of my life which is self rule ( the wheat falling to the ground to die), or death by physical death.
This generation is unique in this respect: Jesus will return for his bride at the rapture and there will be three groups of people when he does. One group will be saved and sanctified (the righteous, those who did not love their lives… Self rule).
{Those who think that righteousness is automatically given to us at salvation, consider all the scriptures I have mentioned that lead us to another conclusion, and then look at these two ideas. We are told to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness… We seek his righteousness. Also, remember that righteousness is spoken of as a fruit that is produced after we have come to faith. Psalm 24 tells us that the one who walks up rightly with clean hands and a pure heart will receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Righteousness is something we pursue once we have received salvation. It is Christ fully formed in me…This is our righteousness. And He is not fully formed (we are not mature in Christ) in the newly saved believer. This has been bad theology to just call every believer righteous. Scripture does not teach that in any way whatsoever. The righteous in Christ, are the hidden with Christ in God…the Saints, the spiritual, the mature in Christ. A carnal Christian, who is any believer who has not been sanctified, is not yet righteous.
More soon!
This is the question our Lord asks all people in Luke 18. It’s a rhetorical question. He tells us already at the beginning of this discourse in Luke that when He returns the earth will be as it was in the days of Noah and Lot.
Then He tells us what He means by that. He says business will go on as usual. People will doing their things like they’ve always done…eating, drinking, marrying… then all of a sudden, when it is least expected, He’s here, and most will be caught unaware.
You would think, that with such warnings, people would be ready. Some will be… those who are watching and praying. They are the ones who are about His business, and not caught up in the distractions of this world. Those distractions are unprofitable Jesus says.
We know by the word that He will find faith but it will be very, very scarce, compared to earth’s population at the time. In Noah’s day it was one family. In lots day it was even less than that.
The warning is severe. So why will there be so few ready? Distractions. Unprepared. All of this will be because the church for the most part has married the world and is playing religion and does not really care to know the word of God. That’s what the prophets say.
New Jerusalem is a city. It is in Heaven, in the eternal realm. It is not seen in the millennium but after the millennium. John sees a New Heaven and a New Earth, for old things have passed away. This is the end, but the beginning of all things.
From the New Earth, totally made new and redeemed, we see a new city coming down from Heaven. We even have the measurements of this city, and description of it. It is where the righteous will dwell and reign with God forever. Not all will dwell there. The ones who dwell on the new earth can travel there, but only at certain times and can only draw so near to God. They chose their lot like everyone else did.
They may have received salvation indeed and glory to God they did. But the fact that they looked to earthly things for their satisfaction and approval and help showed where their allegiance was while in the flesh.
Luke 14:10 is curious. Jesus is telling us when we are invited to a wedding ( metaphor for entering into the eternal state), that we should humbly place ourselves in the lowest place. We just might hear God say to us, friend, come up higher. Higher? Remember that New Jerusalem seems to hover above the New Earth almost as a planet but it is a city. It is near enough to be seen from the New Earth. It’s very interesting. We know this is a spiritual message because who seats themselves in a low room or high room at a wedding? It’s nonsense unless Jesus is speaking spiritual things to spiritual people. He is.
Enoch was removed and taken up to God because why? It was because he walked with God.
Elijah was received by and was gotten by God and taken UP. God’s chariot came to get him. He walked with God.
Paul was taken UP in the body maybe even, to the 3rd Heaven. Why? He walked with God.
John was caught UP In visions of Heaven, why? He walked with God.
When the Son of Man returns for His bride, she will be caught UP, and taken away with Him. Why? She walked with Him.
Jesus asked…When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth (Luke 18)?
He will. He will find His own elect. But the context of this question is when Jesus is describing the day He returns. What will He find?
Let’s look. It’s sloppy to say that all believers will live there. The scriptures don’t teach that in my estimation.
It has been presumptuous teaching and I will even say lazy teaching on the part of even some of the very best teachers, to say that all believers will dwell with God in the New Jerusalem in eternity. Only the inner circle of single minded believers will dwell there and reign with God IN His throne. Lukewarm believers, double minded believers, who remain such until death or rapture, will dwell on the New Earth. We see both in eternity.
The whole word gives us glimmers of this truth but it is stated outright in Psalm 15, then only continues to be stated as the word of God progress’s from there. As with all precious truths of God, the pearls of great price, the treasures hidden in a field, they have to be deeply sought to know, and to see them tucked away in scripture.
What incentive this is to die to self and all the self willed ways of my natural heart! Quite an incentive indeed! Now it is not a reward for some talent or skill or ability that I have, or given as a self glorifying trophy. It’s quite the opposite. Dwelling with God on His Holy Hill, as Psalm 15 says, or dwelling with Him in His tabernacle, as Song of Solomon says, or drawing near to God as Ezekiel says, is a reward for being transformed by the renewing of our minds and offering ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God which is our spiritual act of worship ( Romans 12).
It is a reward for submission and not a reward for skill in a contest. Anyone can submit. It is equally difficult for every person but equally simple if we obey God. Obeying God is a decision. It is a place of the heart. If your heart is self willed and self adoring then you will not do this. Submission is God’s will for you. It is God’s will for all the sheep.
What is God’s will for the believer? Pay close attention to what Paul says in 1 Thess. 4:3, 5:23. …For this is the will of God, your sanctification” , “…And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and your WHOLE spirit, soul and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
The sanctified will dwell in the New Jerusalem.
God doesn’t have this will for unbelievers, it’s impossible. So a believer can obey or disobey. They are saved, just not sanctified. Rebellious. Idol worshippers. Can a believer have idols? Oh my yes! Are you superstitious? Are you greedy? Idols. Are you afraid and rely on money? Idols. Do you covet, or is He your all in all?
These who remain self-willed, will dwell on the new earth. They are earthy. Fleshly. Driven by emotion and sensuality…satisfying the senses and not the spirit within. They cannot reign in heaven, they cannot be trusted to reign. They cannot draw near to God, they have preferred idols at some point. They made their selection while on earth and chose the lesser things. In Gods house are vessels for honor and vessels for dishonor (2 Timothy 2). Paul says if we will be sanctified, we will be vessels of honor and fit for all sorts of good works.
There are those who DO arrive in Heaven, but send no rewards, or few rewards ahead of them.
The righteous, the transformed by the renewed mind ( Mind of Christ), have their works that follow them into Heaven. They rule and reign with Jesus forever. They are God’s confidants. He knows them intimately. He confides in them. Why? They have His Mind. How did they get His Mind? They obeyed Him and He gave it to them.
He is trying to give you His Mind today if you have believed. Will you take it? It costs everything you have. It will cost you yourself. Will you pay the price for the hidden treasure? You have to buy the whole field. You have to go sell all you have. and this has nothing to do with your money or possessions, for God says we possess nothing; all is His.
The only thing you do possess is your heart and your will. Very few will pay that. Very, very few. Now you know. What will you do?
More next time on scriptures which all teach this.
Love, in Jesus’ name,
Cheryl
Yes! We know as Christians we must. Jesus said it in Matthew 5. But what does that mean? Am I to feel emotionally warm and fuzzy about someone who is my enemy? No. I am to love(agape) them. What is Agape love? It’s love that only a believer is capable of. We see it described exactly in 1 Corinthians 13. “Love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy or boast, isn’t proud or rude, doesn’t think of itself, isn’t easily offended, it thinks no evil, doesn’t rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, it bears, believes and hopes and endures all things ( bears, believes and hopes and endures the best, in other words). Love, that is agape, never fails.
So, toward my enemy I can, if I am an obedient believer, be patient, kind, not envy , not boast, not be rude but believe, hope endure the very best and think no evil. This is how to love an enemy, and is what it means to love an enemy.
Now Psalm 15 says this: “Who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He who walks up rightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. He who doesn’t backbite with his tongue (talking behind someone’s back, always cutting them down and imagining evil), nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile ( rejected, reprobate) person is contemned (despised). But he honors those that fear the LORD. He that swears even to his own hurt but still changes not. He who puts not his money out for usery, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved”.
So here we see a description of who will dwell with God in His tabernacle. I believe this is describing those who will dwell in New Jerusalem in eternity and not on the new earth only. I’ll expound on that in next article.
Here are exactly what requirements there are. One of them is a person who despises the vile person.
But we are told to love our enemies. Which is true? Both. Here’s why…
Treating someone who has personally offended me with love has nothing to do with despising evil.
I can love my enemy remember, by being patient, kind, not envying, not boasting, not being rude and believing the best and imagining no evil, etc, but at the same time I must despise that which is evil. I can do both.
I should always, as a believer, hate evil because God hates evil. The word even tells us He hates the evil doer. But evil doer here refers to the lost and God rejecting forever, not to the lost sheep.
My enemy could very well be a lost sheep.
So there are no contradictions in the Bible, just profound truth for the one who cares to find out God’s heart.
If I see a gross offender who is vile in every way and savoring evil and harming others without an ounce of remorse, but joy in it, do I despise the evil? Yes! Do I despise the person, as the word says, as long as the person is in the evil doing and loving it? Yes. Am I to love that enemy with kindness , patience, etc? Yes, because I am to always be kind, patient, hoping the best. And God loved me when I was His enemy.
This also is referring to a state of mind, toward a state of being, as well. MY enemy is very personal. A generally vile person might not be known to me personally. God is reasonable. Everything He says always resonates as true to the heart that seeks truth.
Bless You Lord.
Zechariah chapter 3 is one of my favorites in all of the word. God is speaking to the prophet about Israel and their redemption as a nation, that was to come at the last day, but as always, we also have a picture of the individual believer here that is so wonderful. I wanted to share.
The Bible is written about historical events, and in a parallel way, spiritual truths are there as well. Some are more hidden than others, but patterns of truth and prophecy are always there. Here is one:
We see a man Joshua standing before God in a heavenly, spiritual way. He was the High Priest in Israel at that point in time when Zechariah received the vision.
“Be silent O all flesh, before the LORD, for He is raised up out of His holy habitation.” This reminds me of the scene in heaven in Revelation where all was silent for the space of half an hour.
This is earth shaking. There is a pronouncement in Heaven telling all to be silent because the LORD is raised up from His Holy Habitation. Something is about to happen…something earth shattering. God Almighty is about to declare what He is about to do. It is absolute. It is unchangeable. It is on its way.
Next, we see that Joshua the High Priest is standing before the Angel of the LORD (this is God). Satan is standing at his right hand to resist him.
The picture here is one of Satan, always coming against God’s people. Namely, at this point, it is Israel. Joshua was the High Priest at the time so he is representing Israel. God takes care to mention that Satan stands at Israel’s right hand. The right hand represents God’s instrument of power. So Satan is there to fight against the power of Israel. He wants to defeat her.
The same is true for the believer. Believers are instruments of God’s power. Satan stands by us continually to prevent us from doing God’s work and to accuse us.
“And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD Rebuke you, oh Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked out of the fire?’”
So this is the first thing God says after He raised up from His holy habitation: “The LORD rebuke you Satan”. He comes to fight for us because we are unable. So Satan is rebuked and made powerless at that rebuke. Then God declares to Satan that Jerusalem, and this also applies to the church, is a brand plucked from the fire. These were Isaiah’s words as well. So what is a firebrand? It is an ember in the fire that is about to be consumed but pulled from destruction before that could happen. So was Jerusalem, so are we. The saved are those who have been plucked from the destroying fire by God.
“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel.”
Joshua, meaning Israel, meaning all of the lost but yet to be saved, has filthy garments on and there is nothing he can do about it. And he just stands helpless before God in a lost and unfit state. Can’t you hear the compassion in God’s voice in the way this sentence is composed? He starts it with “now Joshua”. We sense that God’s heart is moved by the man standing before him who is unfit and filthy…dead in sin.
“And He answered and spoke unto those that stood before Him saying, ‘take away the filthy garments from him’ And he said to him, ‘Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass away from you, and I will clothe you with a change of raiment.’”
The filthiness is our sin and the new garments is Christ’s righteousness covering us…taking away our sin.
But it doesn’t end there. This is why this is so earth shattering. God goes on…as if this were not enough.
“AND I said, let them set a fair mitre upon his head”.
God is crowning the believer. This is a fair crown, a righteous one. Kings wear crowns. Priests wear robes and he has already been clothed with a priestly garment, so we have a king and a priest. Such a thing never existed before Jesus came to be our High Priest and King. And if we will be made one in God with Him, we will also be kings and priests, Revelation tells us. This is what we are seeing here in the spirit realm.
“So they set a fair mitre on his head, and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of the LORD stood by”.
God is watching the angels clothe and crown those who will be saved and made one in God with Christ.
Now hear this part: “And the Angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the LORD of Hosts; If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you will also judge My house ( meaning family), and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you places to walk among these that stand by”. Oh my word let’s break this down. Do we know what has been said and what awaits the believer? It is unfathomable.
To protest here means to admonish or declare, to warn and charge. So God is warning, admonishing, charging the believer to what? Let’s see:
“If you will walk in My ways AND keep My charge”. Charge here means post, sentry, office, watch. So if we will walk in His ways, not just affirm them but live in them, and keep watch, then we will do what?
1- Judge His family
2-Keep His courts (ruling and reigning His hedges in places, villages, walled regions, read… cities, nations)
3-Given a place to walk among these…who? Well, who was standing by that He was referring to? Angels.
My prayer this very minute is that every believer would know this and walk in it. Amen
If you are a believer, don’t go after idols! Your eternal rewards might be affected! I say this based on Bible prophecy found in Ezekiel. But the whole Bible exhorts not to go after idols.
In Ezekiel 40 and after we see a future time when all things are restored and God is reigning during 1000 year reign in His temple (the one Ezekiel describes) and those who were His but went after idols before they were restored, cannot draw near to Him. The ones who never went after idols before God restores all things can and do draw near to Him. These are referred to loosely as Levite’s and the line of Zadok respectively. Israel is not the church and the church is not Israel, but there is coming a day when Jesus restores all things and the two flocks will be one. This is that time and for reference purposes, Ezekiel distinguishes those in Gods family who did go after idols but were restored as Levite’s, and those who were in God’s family but never went after idols as the faithful line of Zadok.
Paul says in 2 Timothy that in Gods house (family) are both vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. This is it. Who are the vessels of honor? Paul says. The sanctified while alive. They have put away all evil.
Jesus showed is a picture of an inner circle of disciples and an outer circle. The inner circle drew near and was allowed in rooms where he raised some from the dead and healed. The outer circle remained just outside the door. This is what we see continued in Ezekiel.
I see many running after idols in the church. They are as the Levite’s spoken of in Ezekiel who will serve God but from a distance in eternity.
They embrace strange doctrines that rush through the church. They indulge in blasphemous things of the world and of other religions and call it freedom in Christ…yoga, and all the eastern mysticisms.
They read witchcraft like Harry Potter and think it’s ok. They explore books that blaspheme God like The Shack, The Divinci Code, and others but will not study the scriptures to show themselves approved.
They go to so called prophets to get their fortunes told. They break laws for their own benefit thinking God endorses cheating and are not bothered in conscience. They play the religious leader, yet devour widows houses and defraud the government.
They are not bothered by the satanic confusion of gender in society and side with homosexuality even though God abhors such.
They fill those minds and eyeshadow with the corruption that is on TV and movies and claim it’s ok.
This is idol worship.
These run entire congregations and refuse correction. They are not prophets but claim they are. They are not apostles yet claim they are. Neither are they subject to the prophets because they will not receive correction.
Most of these are not believers at all and they are doomed. But some of these are true believers yet double minded and still on the milk of the word and devoid of wisdom.
They will serve God from a distance because they had hearts that did enter the kingdom but barely, as we see in 1 Corinthians. They will have sent no fruit ahead of them. They will not draw near because God warned men over and over again that idol worshipers will not draw near to God but will remain in the outer court.
Ezekiel’s temple, as the temple has always been, is a picture of an actual temple, but is at its core the human heart that has allowed God to enter and to dwell. There is a most Holy place in that temple in every believer’s heart. Only the faithful will enter the most holy place in that temple. Those who went after idols remain at a distance.
Who will you be?