It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2

Posts tagged ‘Jesus’

The Bible’s Purpose Is For, Information, Transformation, and Communication  

When we read the Bible we should be clear as to the purpose of the practice.  There are many different reasons we go to the Bible and all of them are important and valid reasons, but it is good to be clear and know our particular purpose when we sit down with His Word. We study and read the Bible for information in preparation to teach or preach, we also read the Bible to get instruction on how to transform our lives to be more like Him. But, our highest calling is to commune with God through His word and to let Him speak to us as we listen intently to what He has for us individually. 

All three of these purposes and practices are very important for us to become total and complete in God’s will for our lives. We must be informed and know what God’s word says about a matter before we can go out and teach others 

Titus 2:1-4 You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine.  Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.  Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children..

John 21:17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

There are many ways to read the Word of God, we can read it from Genesis to Revelations as printed, or chronologically in the order that it was believed to have transpired, or in the sequence of going through the Bible in a year reading the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs as a few examples.  

We are to gather information, and study to show ourselves approved unto God, that we may pass on correct truth to those we are speaking, so as to be helpful in their life’s journey.  This is a powerful way of helping our loved ones and those God has placed in our sphere or circle of influence. We can give them truth and the principles on how to live this life according to God’s precepts, teachings and guidelines. This is a task we all have been called to do; parents teach your children; let the older women instruct the younger on how to act;  let the fathers and leaders teach the people, as good shepherd who is willing to sacrifice self and time to train, teach and protect God’s people.  

2 Timothy 2:14 Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Our Transformation, should be to change our old fallen ways of doing and seeing things and to change our old patterns and ways thinking.  This is another purpose we should have while we encounter reading the Bible or studying The Word of God. So that we ourselves may be transformed into the image God has created us to be. We all have been taught by a fallen world system and have been indoctrinated and brain washed with lies that are from the enemy of God. But, it is all we have known and were taught, so it appears as truth until our minds are “Renewed or Restored” to God’s way of thinking.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God has birthed us into His family by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our original state was formed into the likeness of God until, the enemy came and disfigured and marred God’s children into fallen creatures that no longer reflect or revealed the love, light and unity of Him. But God, would not leave us in that fallen state and sent Yeshua, Jesus, our Rescuer and Deliverer to rebirth and restore in us that which was lost and stolen, the Holy image of God, through the Holy Spirit. 

Galatians 4:6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”

In order to be transformed into the image of God and His Son Jesus, we must renew our minds to God’s way of thinking, which can only come by the washing our minds with the word of truth. As stated, Jesus cleansed the church by the washing of water with the word of God, which also cleanses us. 

Ephesians 5:25-26 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

It is so important to take time to commune, to fellowship, and to allow God to speak to us. Having open communication with God may be one of our the most neglected practices while reading the Bible. The Word of God can allow us to hear Him speak to us personally. We will study to teach the word of God, and we will read to know how to be transformed and more like Christ, but seldom do we sit still with the purpose of hearing from God. We should ask, speak Lord for your servant is listening!

Often times we are like Samuel when he was a child, God is calling and speaking to us but we tend to run to those around us to ask what they think or to see what they say about a matter. This is a natural thing for us as children, new in the word and the family of God, that we look and seek those who have known God and His word. But as we grow and mature in the reading and understanding of God’s word, we are to do as Eli told Samuel, go back and sit before the Lord. We must train our spiritual ears to listen for God’s voice, His words and instructions to us through sitting in His presence with His Holy word. 

1 Samuel 3:4 that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!”  So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.

6-7 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.)

8-10 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy.  Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.

Now that we have been transferred into the family of God, Jesus said He now call us friend, and we can call God, Abba Father, we are not just family but in close personal relationship with God as Father and Jesus as Savior and Friend. 

Like any good father God wants to be in constant fellowship and communication with His children. While God is the Father and Creator of all creation, He desires a close and personal relationship with those who are in the household and family of God. All who believe and trust in Him through faith and in the completed work of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. 

Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household,

Just as in the garden with Adam and Eve, their test was to see who they would believe and obey, God or Satan. That is the same test that lies before each of us today, who will we believe, the word of God our loving Father, or the tricks and lies of the enemy and our own selfishness?

1 Corinthians 1:9 God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

We communicate with God so that He can inform us and then transform us into His image. As with any skill, it is improved with practice.  We should ask God, help me Lord to listen to You and to know Your voice. Speak Lord, for Your child is listening!  

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God Wants A Willing Heart – To be Willing to Be on God’s Mission                           

God is looking for someone who is willing to open their heart to His purpose, which is for us to bear His Image, reflect His glory and to show His love to the unlovely, the lost and a hurting world. Our will, which is the ability to choose, is the most Godlike characteristic that we have been given. We possess the power to determine not only how we will live for God our Creator in this life, but the capability to decide our eternal destiny. 

Deuteronomy 30:19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. NIV

God does not require us to be perfect or live without faults or mishaps, that is the reason Jesus came, to live a perfect life that we could not. But God wants us to be willing to submit to His Word and His authority. We are to align our will with His way and be willing to accept His word. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior God will give us the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability and the strength to do God’s work according to His will.

Luke 24:49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Acts 1:4-5  On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

In a time where there is so much division in the world, where the difference in opinions has become a reason and justification to dislike and even hate another. This is the culture that Satan and this fallen world system have cultivated to keep people divided in a spirit of anger, hate and fear. But God has called us to pray for those who misuse us, to love those who hate and persecute us.  

Luke 2:27-28 But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Some people may say this is unfair of God, to ask us to pray for those who hurt us. But this is not just for their benefit, it is for ours also. God is guarding our hearts from hate and bitterness. God knows you cannot maintain hate for those you are praying for.  God is asking us to pray for our enemies for our benefit, so we do not lose sight of who we are in Christ Jesus and also, not to lose ourselves in pride, which could turn to bitterness and hate and endanger and at risk of the judgment. 

Hebrews 12:14-15 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:  looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 

Matthew 5:22a But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. 

Matthew 18:33-35 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

This is not something we can do naturally on our own, it takes the power of God through the Holy Spirit to give us both the desire and the power to pray for our enemies. But it must start with us submitting our will to God’s purpose and plan for saving a lost and dying world, through the love of Christ that is within us. 

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Most people think their goal is to live a life centered around self and to care only for themselves, their family and friends, but we are here to live a life hidden in Christ that we may reflect the life of Christ to others. To live the life Christ lived on earth, one of humility, sacrifice and as a servant to others.  He died to self-interest for the sake of others, and this is what our daily lives should look like. Except we die to the obsession and idol of self, and remove egos from the throne of our life, we will remain confused in this our life’s journey. 

A seed will multiply and reproduce once it is buried and die to its original form. The husk of the seed must be broken for it to be changed into a different form, that it may be rooted into the life-giving soil which provides nutrients that it needs to grow.   Just as we must die to our original self, where we were educated and trained in by this fallen world system that exalts self over the love of Christ. 

1 Corinthians 15:21 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. NKJ

John 12:24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

As the apostle Paul stated, he died daily and so should we.  We too should die daily, and every day by the act of our will, we must choose whether we will live for ourselves, our pride, position, or culture, or we can choose to die to it all that and let the love, mercy, forgiveness, so that the unity, from the life and love of Christ may flow through us. This is not something that is done overnight but is a process of change, of being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, from the old way of living to a new way of thinking.  We are to renew our minds to God’s way of living and thinking. We are to live in humility and in service to others, not looking just at their current needs but for their eternal souls.

It is difficult for us to turn the other cheek or to let people get by with the wrong they have done to us, but if we die to self, there will be no struggle. You can kick a dead man and he will not respond, and that is how we should live in this life. It is a process and a practiced skill to be able to hold our tongue and manage our dislikes, for the saving of another soul from possible eternal perdition or misery, which is far more important than our petty feeling of being disrespected, our pride or the need to vindicate self. 

Joshua24:14a, 15b

Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness….…then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Every person has a God given will, that is the ability to choose the direction of our lives. Even God will not take our right to choose away, but He tells what the results of our choices are, blessing or curses. God desires to be in a relationship with His children as most parents do. Because of His love for us His Grace gives us the same choice they had in the garden, to choose who they will believe and obey. All He asks is that we choose Jesus and He will give us the power to live this life more abundantly.  

Romans 10:9-11 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

God will not force anyone to come to Him, but He is constantly asking us to choose by faith Jesus, with our heart, mind, and soul as an act of our will. 

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The Prayer of Salvation and Making Jesus Our Savior  

Salvation is God’s gift to all humanity in allowing us another chance to be redeemed from our disobedience, our curse and our rebellious acts with the fall of mankind.  Salvation is a gift, no one can earn it or deserves it, but they can choose to accept or refused it. God has given us the simple act of the prayer of faith in His Son Jesus, to be rescued and delivered from sin and given eternal salvation. 

 This process may be simple but yet, it has a great, profound and overwhelming effect on our lives, our character and the people we influence.  The prayer of salvation is praying to God, asking for the forgiveness of our sins, because we believe in the blood, the death and the resurrection for the debt that Jesus paid for us on the cross.  By asking Jesus to come into our livesand to be our Lord and Savior our souls are save for eternity. 

 We are shown this process in the book of Romans. This is the prayer of faith and how we can become children of the Most-High God and be in the family and household of God. With our body we confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord over our lives and with our soul we believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead. Then the Holy Spirit comes and our spirit is made alive and we are made righteous by the Holy Spirit of God. 

Romans 10: 9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. NKJ 

 Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  NKJ 

Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. NKJ 

 God created us as a tri-part being; body, soul and spirit. We have a natural body created from the earth.  Oursoul, is our personality, character, intellect and will. It is our soul that gives us our individuality, it is our God given ability to choose our path in life and how we will develop our character, be it right or wrong.  

 Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. NKJ 

 Death can have two meanings; one is that a thing ceases to exist in its natural form and another is that there is a separation from the life-giving source that a thing needs to continue to exist in its current form.  When God created mankind, He breathed into themHis God like spirit and they became a living being with a soul and an eternal spirit like God, which will never cease to exist. 

 The day they rebelled against God and disobeyed His command, their God like spirit left the natural body and the man, as God had created him, no longer existed.  Their God likeness, His Shekinah Glory that shined bright all over them, their God like spirit, leftthem that day and their nakedness was revealed. Man as God had created and made him originally, died that day with the separation of the Spirit leaving mankind with just his body and soul. The body of mankind will later die when the soul returns to its source and maker.

Genesis 3: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 

 Through the confession and the prayer of faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God will come back into our hearts and our God given spirit will be born again. We can once again turn from death, to life everlasting and no longer be counted as one of the “living dead.”  The living dead are those whose body and soul is alive and functioning but their spirit is dead to the things of God. This is what Jesus meant when He said, let the dead bury their dead. He was speaking of those whose spirit was dead and not alive in Christ. 

 Matthew 8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” NKJ 

 John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. NKJ  

 God has given us the simple process to be saved, the ABC salvation; Admit, Believe and Confess which involves mankind as the tri-part being, body, soul and spirit. 

 Admit and say with our mouth, (which involve our body) that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

Believe in our heart, (which is our soul) that Jesus gave His blood, died on the cross and was raised again to pay our sin debt.

Confess that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and there by receive the Holy Spirit (where by our spirit is reborn) to become a new creation in the family of God. 

 2Chorinthains 5:17-19 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. NKJ

 It is no longer the things we do, or do not do, but the choices we make for our lives and our future, that is our will. When we choose Jesus, and through the prayer of faith receive Him as our Lord, the righteousness of Christ will put us into a right standing with God and in His family. 

 God has given every person a free will to choose their path in life and who they will serve.  We are free to choose but we are not free from the consequences of our choices. We have been told to choose this day whom we will serve.

Joshua 24:14-15 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the Riverand in Egypt. Serve the Lord!   And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”NKJ

A seed that is planted in the soil is hidden from our eyes and though we cannot see the growth that is taking place in the soil, in time we will see the transformation of that seed, the growth and the fruit that is produced. This is much like the process of us being born again with the seed of God planted in our spirit though me may not see the growth immediately over time we will see a transformation. 

 We should be mindful of what seeds we are planting and thereby what crop we will be gathering. 

 When we truly believe and pray this prayer of faith, we can be sure that we are saved, by faith in God’s word. God’s word is our assurance and not our works, and by God’s promise we know that we are in the family and household of God.

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