Dying to our Flesh unto Trust

   

If Canaan represents our Heavenly abode, indeed, does not the wilderness represent our time here on earth, while Egypt is our lives before we were born-again by the Spirit of God? 

God’s people, although He offers Himself, and who He is to us, often murmur and complain, having still our flesh which fights against the Spirit of God. Regardless, God will still show us His glory in its fullness, as we trust in Him, crossing the finish line into the Promised land one day. 

As we know, Joshua and Caleb, were the only ones left to cross over, just like a remnant today, who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. This remnant consists of those who trust Him, by allowing Him to sanctify them, being conformed into Christ’s image, as a result. 

The rest of the Israelites were the ones who were God’s people, but who didn’t trust Him to protect and defend them, and they didn’t enter. They continued in their flesh, instead of surrendering it to the cross. But had they trusted Him, and had asked for forgiveness, they, too, could have entered in. On the other side, they would have found the grace of God to receive them. 

The Lord, Our Keeper

 If we stay in Christ,(we don’t walk away or leave Him, but continue to trust and depend on Him, throughout  our lives) His keeping power will be there for us. He won’t keep us against our will, but according to our will, depending on if it is set towards Him and His ways. But, if we are focused on, and do our own will, regardless of what He says, shows we haven’t really given ourselves to Him, does it? He says if we are His, we are to walk as He walks. Although not perfectly, but we set ourselves in His direction, and when we fail, we again turn to Him, to receive the forgiveness He offers; the forgivesness He died for. 

If we say, “I can do anything I want, because He will forgive  me,” shows our disrespect for the sacrifice He went through on our behalf, and for Him. If we love Him, we won’t take advantage of Him. 

As we abide in Him and His Word abides in us, we can be assured He will keep us to the end. 

I was so encouraged this morning, reading out of 1 Corinthians of that assurance. From verses 8 and 9, it says, “”He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. 

If we continue to abide, we can be assured that His faithfulness will keep us!!!! 

Let Your Light So Shine

As Christ followers, our lives should be based on His precepts which are espoused in His Word. Looking at the decisions we’ve made with our lives, we should be able to see them backed up by Scripture, if our goals are to obey Him, and bring pleasure to His heart. 

Ask God, then to reveal to you what those Scriptures are which exemplify your life, lived to His glory. Write them down. If there are none, and you discover you have been living your life based on what you want, or what the world and others tell you, repentance would be at hand. Turning from our former selfish lives, is always something we can do, if we are claiming to follow Jesus, and bring glory to our Father. If, however, you find that the life you are living is the life that honors Him, praise God, because it has only been lived through our decisions that have been empowered by His Spirit!!! 

For example, one Scripture that you may live by is “True religion is this-to take care of the widows and orphans, and to remain in spotted by the world.”-James 1:27. You could support a mission that takes care of widows and orphans, or you could do that in your own circle of family or friends. You may also be careful to not do as the world does in their values, actions and behavior; those things that may “spot” you. 

If we say we love Him, we need to keep His commandments. Otherwise, the Word of God, and God, Himself, is blasphemed. God’s desire and pleasure is to be glorified through the lives of His people. 

A House in Disrepair

Are you polluting the Body of Christ by your disobedience, neglect, and ambivalence? Is your temple in disarray, and The Temple in ruins because of the collective disrespect we have towards Him, the Master Builder and our Chief Priest? 

When one member neglects their own temple (the place in us where God dwells) and spends their days building their own paneled houses instead, it severely impacts the Temple God is building by not only delaying it’s progress, but by making it out of alignment, and poorly built; an edifice no one would be attracted to. 

We, as living stones, look like a pile of rubble, because of our self centered and self reliant lives! By thinking we can build ourselves, because we have not yet submitted under the Master’s Hand, our temple is the laughing stock of the world, and not different from it. 

Help us, Lord. Build us, Lord. Take us to the quarry and do your work so that your Temple, that is is, will be a beautiful place of refuge, peace, love,mercy and hope that others will be drawn to in abundance!!!! 

Immortality-The Favor of God!

 The Majesty of God is unfathomable, only revealed fully to us, when our mortality is captured by His immortality!!!! 

While it’s true we can get closer and closer on this earth in seeing Him, as we give up our will for His, but the complete unveiling is when we lose our mortal hindrances, our body and our humanness. 

1 Cor. 15:54-“ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall it come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Coming soon, when all these deaths from Covid and other reasons for death, happen increasingly, the eyes of believers will begin to see more clearly, that immortality is truly God showing His favor, by this gift! Not just to be protected from the evil that is to come, but to see God’s glory face to face. It won’t just be a trite statement of “he/she is in a better place, it will be a realization that they have the advantage of “passing on” and are at home. Our crying may change from human grieving that they have gone from this earth, from our presence, to true tears of joy that they are in His presence, and that we have longer to stay here.  

https://youtu.be/WD2ykSDGgok

Holy Moments. Be Still.

 I imagine when the men from the East followed the star and found Jesus, that they experienced a stillness of awe! They may not have even known why,  but they knew something Holy had happened, as they starred at the child, as if God had made it known, in some part of their being. 

Today also there are Holy moments. And they may not even be in the most great of circumstances, in fact, they may be in the most awful! But, as we submit them into our Father’s hands, they then become Holy, because of who is holding them. In loving trust, we come to know that our cares, or the cares of our loved ones, are being worked out to His highest good, and that because of Him being at work, they then become Holy. And we hush, like the wise men of old, starring into the face of what God has brought forth, and continues to in our dire circumstances. Let’s see what He will do! Gaze! Trust! Rest! 

Lazarus, Come Forth!!!

 

Many people have “advantage” in this world according to it’s values: beauty, riches, personality, astounding talent, know-how, charisma, intelligence, and confidence, to name a few. 

Where does that put the ones who don’t? Usually at the bottom of the pyramid just taking whatever they can get, eating the proverbial crumbs from another’s table, trying the best they can to play the cards they’re dealt, yet knowing realistically that there is no way they can win in this life. 

Blind optimists would object to this conclusion. While it may be true that someone with a profound disability may overcome their obstacles with sheer willpower, being cheered on by others who like to be entertained by these kinds of dramatic scenarios, usually the regular Joe of society remains in his humble state, feeling “less than.”

This marginal majority are the ones ripe for the good news of Jesus Christ, where the ground is level at the cross, a place, in God’s heart, where no hierarchy exists! When someone enters into a relationship with God, through Christ, they become a part of His regal family, lifted from their place in society sand into His loving arms, in the realm of spirit. This new placement from below the rest, to equal to others in His family, according to God, should elevate one’s spirit and affect how they see themselves; loved, accepted, forgiven, with a present and secure future of a life lived with God, and which has the potential to bring Him glory!!! 

If there is ever an “up from the ashes” story, this is it!!! Dead to the world, but raised in Christ!!! Resurrection Life!!!!