Thoughts: The Sanctity of the Mundane

Thought it might help someone somewhere to post thoughts here as the Lord continually teaches me the sanctity of the mundane. Ill post as often as possible, as long as the liberty is there.

Colossians 3:15

Let the peace of God rule in your heart. This peaceful, quietness of the inner man is the tell tale sign of walking in the light with our thoughts turned to the ever present God. The world becomes a blissful background image to the ruling peace and presence of God, and His statutes become a burden no more, but an outflow of the Christ life within. With our thoughts turned to God and His free redeeming grace, allow Jesus, by the Holy Spirit to live freely and have His being, loving one another and you shall realize that the bond of perfectness is indeed love - but it is Jesus that lives and moves and has His being in and through us. What grace we have to walk in our mundane everyday lives with this peace and light within us.

"Christ in you"

This statement, as well as hundreds more throughout the Bible is always stated by churchmen as a question. "Is Christ BEING formed in you"; "How do we..."; "What do we..."? You've heard it said that we attain this by prayer, Bible study, tears, "travail" (ironically this mention is someone travailing for Christ to be formed in others). Any number of things to "fill us up more" with Jesus. I've always winced at these saying as Jesus doesn't dismember Himself in order to give us part of Him.

It is Christ in you. His entirety. All of Him. There is no more of Him to obtain once we gain Him. He is all ours or not ours at all. It's akin to birth, but tragically, through prayer, disciplines and other forms of self improvement, we have performed the most dastardly partial birth abortion in history.

It is only when we cease our efforts to work something up via effort, no matter how noble it may look on the surface, that God in His giving mercy will send something down.

Resting in the Lord is exactly that, resting. It is only when we cease our efforts that Jesus will begin His. My life in the manifest presence of God has nothing to do with prayer, Bible study or abstaining from things, and everything to do with Jesus living and moving, and having His being in me, as me. This is faith, inwardly seeing that results in outward doing, and it is God Who works, while we rest.

"That ye might be filled with all of fullness of God"

The epistle to the Ephesians is rich with promises, all of which are yes and amen to us. The overarching theme of Paul's writing is this great mystery, the almighty God of all creation making us His habitation by faith. In Jesus dwelt all of the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and here we see a wonderful promise, that we might be filled in this same way.

It is the great promise of salvation that we might walk in this world even as Jesus walked, that we are in this world even as He was. The Son of man promised we would do even greater works than He did, as lofty as this seems to the carnal christian, still striving against these promises with self disciplined effort.

In me dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the total fullness of God. When we allow the word to cut asunder spirit, soul and body, we begin to see that we are as He was in this life, and our desires, our will, our wants become His wants and we can live freely knowing He works in us to will and do His good pleasure. What we do issues forth from who we are, and who we are is simply a container for Jesus. We can live knowing that our desires and mind are His; we can go through life free to make our decisions, hold our conversations and walk through our lives, because when Jesus takes up residence within, they are no longer ours but His.

What a joy and peace to know the freedom of Christ in me! What great promises we are given to live as Christ lives, knowing He is our example of living. We were never meant to live the Christian life; we were meant to allow the risen Christ to live it through us, Christ in our Human forms.

When we work God rests, but what joy it is when we stop working and God begins to work for us. We rest while our loving savior works. This, and only this, is true Christian life.

You wrote:
"It is Christ in you. His entirety. All of Him. There is no more of Him to obtain once we gain Him. He is all ours or not ours at all. "
Paul wrote: "But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him””a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ,(Phil 3:8,Ampl)

"It's akin to birth, but tragically, through prayer, disciplines and other forms of self improvement, we have performed the most dastardly partial birth abortion in history."
Biblical prayers are not for self improvement.
Jesus prayed often and he told his disciples to pray
Luke 22:40 When He came to the place, He told them, "Pray that you will not enter into temptation.” 41 And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed, 42"Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”…
Jesus did not pray for self improvement !

"When we work God rests, but what joy it is when we stop working and God begins to work for us. We rest while our loving savior works.
This, and only this, is true Christian life."
This is a completely false claim !

What you write is not biblical faith.
Pray that the Lord may help you to find the truth.

Markus

"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure"

Paul penned this expansive epistle to the church at Philippi while awaiting an unknown fate in prison. It is full of glorious forward looking to the day of Jesus return, while also full of exhortation to the saints to stand strong in faith while experiencing onslaughts from every angle; physical, mental and doctrinal persecutions.

Man is prone to isolate Pauls writings the one from the other, rip them from their overall context and also forget who they are written to. Often Paul is exhorting Christians who are not yet walking as he did, with the indwelling Christ; or those who are blown around by every opposition; or those who have experienced trials of their faith, both in those who labor to refute the gospel of grace with a return to laborious works, forsaking the liberty we find in Jesus, and those who simply seek to kill those who make open professions of Christ.

Here we see a healthy dose of all of this, as well as personal greeting and exhortations to trust only those sent from Paul himself. Paul took great ownership of this great Gospel, even calling it "my gospel" at one point.

Why is this important? Paul exhorts those who are easily swayed by doctrines of men to stand fast in faith. Paul exhorts those who are physically threatened to stand fast in faith. Paul assures the saints that his message is Gods message, and none others are to be trusted, bringing to remembrance Jesus words, the promise of His indwelling by the Spirit of truth to teach us all things, with no need for mans teaching. Pride is deadly, and when men seek to dissect and reinterpret plain scripture and hard sayings, it again brings to mind the glorious truth spoken by Jesus, "And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?"

Scathing words, and an indictment to all those that seek the person of Christ in scripture. Gods infallible scriptures are how we learn of Jesus and the life He gives us in Him, the commands that He Himself empowers us to obey by virtue of His indwelling, but by no means are a substitute to His person and knowing Him.

Paul was not new in this message of the indwelling Christ, who is in fact the Word of God. This too is a hard saying, the Bible is not in fact the Word of God, the person of Jesus is. The Bible is the expression of Gods mind to humanity to lead us to the risen Messiah, Jesus. Infallible and true, every jot and tittle, yet not the Word of God.

Paul is constantly grieved by those that seek to divide and conquer the church through either works, persecution or the "I am of Paul" mentality. We see this same persecutive spirit at work in the world today, and in our nation it manifest in the cults of dogma, and denies the power of the resurrection.

Paul exhorts in this epistle to stand fast in the perfection we have attained in Christ and persevere, working out our salvation in the midst of the ruling powers of the worlds systems with fear and trembling, standing fast in the faith he preached, the pure Gospel of grace through faith.

Great again is the promise that it is in fact God that works in us not only to do, but to WILL to do. Jesus not only gives us all sufficiency in all things to abound to every good work, but also the desires and wants necessary. To those of us walking in grace by faith, and through sanctification have Christ abiding in us, we can say with great joy, "Christ lives in me, and I do as I please". We can live in perfect will and mind alignment with the God of the universe, and through faith know that God in His rich mercy will live this life through us.

Yet again, this epistle that is so often used by men to dethrone the grace and promises of God, proves to us that nothing can separate us from the grace of God; and we are to consider the trying of our faith a great joy, even though sometimes sorrowful in our bodies and souls. We are strong in our inner man and therefore, since we are partakers of the divine nature, the true vine, even the physical and intellectual trials will only serve to glorify Jesus.

Stand strong in faith saints, and look forward to the final return of Jesus. The kingdom of God is within you now, and will be made physically manifest when every knee finally bows to our now present indwelling savior. I rejoice in this promise, and will by faith walk in the perfection I have attained through faith, with eyes raised waiting for the perfection of all things being brought to bow to the rightful king of kings when He gloriously returns.

Let none deceive you, by grace you are saved, walk and live pure by virtue of continually growing in the knowledge of the indwelling person of Christ; and I say with Paul, even those that preach Christ out of contention, I rejoice that Christ is preached.

"Pray without ceasing"

This text, penned by the pioneering apostle, once again pushes us to tread what seems like impossible new terrain. This is another scriptural command that is oft misused and abused, being held up as a lofty and unattainable standard reserved for those special few. The ivory tower sorts with calloused knees and tear stained eyes. But the apostle isn't setting us up for failure in this over worked and modern life.

Prayer is much more than a set aside time for devotional duty. It is a lifestyle of heart attunement to the ever present God. Words mean far less in prayer than we are often taught, and the revered "prayer closet" is misinterpreted now more than ever.

Prayer is a disposition of life that is a stillness of mind as it simply basks in the ever presence of a loving God. The spirit intercedes for us, and when we are still, just knowing that God is God, this is sometimes the most profitable form of prayer. The secret place of our inner selves is the closet of prayer that is never in a place we are unable to occupy, and this is where God dwells in all His glory.

When we allow ourselves to simply turn our thoughts to God and listen for His voice, and acknowledge His presence, our souls become a well spring of living water, peace, joy, and revival. Location doesn't matter anymore when we thoroughly embrace the omnipresent God. The disposition of prayer replaces the position of prayer, and inwardly we are renewed minute by minute by the indwelling of Christ.

ESchaible,

Paul exhorts in this epistle to stand fast in the perfection we have attained in Christ and persevere, working out our salvation in the midst of the ruling powers of the worlds systems with fear and trembling, standing fast in the faith he preached, the pure Gospel of grace through faith.

I am still not convinced that believers are already perfect now.

Besides Phil. 3:12-14, Paul also said when his life was nearly at an end:

2 Tim. 4:7-8 ”“
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Comment:
That is, Paul won the crown of righteousness AFTER he had fought the good fight and FINISHED the race of faith. (Caps just for emphasis).

We will certainly be perfect if we can perfectly abide in Christ and Christ in us.

But we are still in this world and the world calls powerfully to us to return to its realm.

And we are still in this old body of flesh that calls powerfully to us to return to its rule.

It is fully possible to stop abiding in Christ.

So, I think it is too early to say we have arrived when we have not yet finished the race.

We are strong in our inner man and therefore, since we are partakers of the divine nature, the true vine, even the physical and intellectual trials will only serve to glorify Jesus.

Paul was given a thorn in the flesh not to glorify Jesus, in the first instance, but to keep him from exalting himself (2 Cor. 12:7).

Christ is glorified when His power is perfected in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9) and that Paul learnt through his trial.

ESchaible
I have already mentioned what you write is not biblical faith.
What you write has more to do with mysticism and new age stuff, very concerning !

You wrote: "Prayer is a disposition of life that is a stillness of mind as it simply basks in the ever presence of a loving God."
This is nowhere found in Scripture. Instead we read in Luke 11: 1
One day in a place where Jesus had just finished praying, one of His disciples requested, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 So Jesus told them, "When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.…

"the promise of His indwelling by the Spirit of truth to teach us all things, with no need for mans teaching."
Jesus said: Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.

"This too is a hard saying, the Bible is not in fact the Word of God, the person of Jesus is"
The Bible is the very inspired Word of God !

As I said above: Pray that the Lord may help you find the truth.
I'm concerned about your salvation, may you have ears to hear.

Markus

"That you may know"

As the Lord leads me into more and more understanding of what it means to love Him, follow Him, and live in relationship with Him in the world we find ourselves in today, it is sometimes enrapturing to find those that shared the same leadings. We are so often drawn about by the powers as they seek to distract us, pulling our attention away from God to seemingly innocuous earthly things; things we simply have to do and take care of as we each live our lives. It is dangerous to label these necessaries as sinful or "worldly", as even the pillars we look to as fathers in the faith were some simple coal miners; and the Lord of Lords spent some 30 years as a carpenter.

I am a firm believer that a faith that is true is a faith that penetrates to the depths. Not only the depths of our souls and spirits, but also a complete permeation of our entire lives. If we are unable to live the life we are given with God, than the life we think we have been given is a mere facade, a deception of the powers.

To call back to what I said concerning finding like minds and other burning hearts, I want to simply point out another pilgrim who also was taught the simplicity of knowing the person of Jesus, rather than the barren desert of lettered head knowledge. I don't often feel liberty to quote those who are not the infallible writers of the Bible, but the words of AW Tozer smack with prophetic significance for this modern age, perhaps more even than his own day.

"We have almost forgotten that God is a Person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored. All social intercourse between human beings is a response of personality to personality, grading upward from the most casual brush between man and man to the fullest, most intimate communion of which the human soul is capable. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the Creating Personality, God. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Let these words burn in your hearts and serve as a catalyst to resist those that encourage the dry seeking of scripture to find eternal life, as even Jesus Himself told us bluntly that those are they that speak of Him. All things must be weighed in the light of plain scripture apart from mans doctrinal gymnastics; but NEVER forget Jesus is in fact a person who indwells the believer by faith, and as such can be known in that way.

"For He is our peace"

It always amazes me when the Spirit of God speaks swiftly and bluntly to the present soul needs of His children. The searching and never finding of the world is also just as amazing, albeit in a much more sinister form. The world, those under the spirit of disobedience, the prince of the powers of the air, seek peace, most subconsciously and without knowing it. They seek it in self help, self improvement, self actualization, self realization; but all of this is exactly what it says it is, self.

The church at large employees these same means. We think and preach that more prayer, more fasting, more bible reading, more fellowship, more devotional quiet times (the list is just as long and exhaustive, and exhausting as the worlds) will be the conduit through which we find God. These things are all good things, and necessary. But many wise men have said in the past that the good is the enemy of the perfect.

HE is our peace. I concede the doctrine being taught here, the mutual peace with God, both of Jew and Gentile, is the doctrine being taught here by Paul. But we must approach these truths as poets and psalmists, not merely doctors of theology.

He is our peace; the person of Jesus. The peace of God that surpasses all understanding is also, in this sense, a person. We approach the Father by the Holy Spirit, through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. Triune communion and thereby, peace with God and quietness and peace within.

Christ is all, and in all. Inner peace can never be found by doing, for doing is the enemy of the gospel of grace. Inner peace is in fact a person, Christ Jesus. The indwelling of Jesus Himself, realized and obeyed, is the only avenue through which we find this coveted peace within. The psalmist echoes the cry of the heart sick seeker of God, "Be still oh my soul" and the answer of the Father is "Be still and know that I am God".

Be still dear saint, and know. Know Him, and the power of His resurrection. Peace within is Christ within.

ESchaible
In your opinion what does someone need to do to get this kind of peace ?
What do you mean "Christ is all, and in all" ?

Markus

Deogloria /!Markus,

If you want to discuss these topics in a serious and prayerful way, send me an email and we can definitely do that ( notevanschaible@gmail.com ).

That invitation is for anyone by the way.

If you would like the discussion to be publicly visible, my blog would be a better place, or another thread for that specific reason.

Evan
I don't want to go beyond this forum for now.
These are simple questions.
But they might reveal a lot more what we believe ?
Maybe others are also interested ?
Thanks

Markus

This glorious hymn has been the song of my heart to God all day at work so far. I'll refrain from theology and simply let you to be blessed.

The evening is glorious, oh, hear the glad song
Of saints all victorious o’er sin and the wrong!
They’ve risen in triumph to reign in this life,
Above sect confusion, all darkness and strife.

Refrain:
The evening is glorious, hallelujah to God!
We’re sanctified wholly through faith in the blood;
The true light now shineth, the darkness is past;
Our sorrow and sighing is ended at last.
Though we have been scattered by sects and by creeds,
Now home to Mount Zion our good Shepherd leads;
The light was not clear in the dark, cloudy day,
But pure evening light now reveals the true way.
The songs of the captives who have returned home””
O’er Babel’s dark mountains no longer to roam””
Are telling of freedom in Zion’s fair height;
Oh, glory to Jesus, the evening is light!
The glory of heaven now streams from above
On God’s holy remnant made perfect in love;
They’re free in the Spirit, by Him they are led,
And give their allegiance to Jesus, their Head.
The evening is glorious, break forth into song,
Let melody carry the message along
Of perfect salvation in Jesus alone,
Who is our salvation and chief Corner Stone

"And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent"

What more can be said? That they might have life, and have it more abundantly is the sole purpose of Jesus. Very God and very Man, God manifest Himself in human flesh, to defeat all principality and power, abolish the curse of the law, crush the serpents head and live a life wherein the god of this world had nothing. He became sin for us, in order to die to it once and for all so that we to could die in Him and be married to a new bridegroom.

We have been ransomed from the prince of the power of the air! In Christ we have died to sin, no more indwelling spirit of the world for those who died in Him, for the spirit leaves the body upon death.

We have been risen with Christ to newness of life! The same Holy Spirit that raised up Jesus quickens our mortal bodies and we are vessels of Him who defeated the devil.

It is no longer I that lives, but Christ liveth in me! We identify with Him, in His life who was free from every worldly influence and in whom the prince of this world had nothing.

We, by faith, identify in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and thereby find salvation. Upon salvation we move on to sanctification and we find ourselves indwelt by Christ Himself via God the Holy Spirit, living and moving and having His being in us, as us in the world.

We live by faith in the risen Son of God!

What a wonderful gospel that has been destroyed by a view that Christs death on the cross was merely a punishment for sin to appease an angry gods wrath.

If Christ died to satisfy punishment, than salvation is by law, sins are not forgiven, and grace is no more grace.

Victory in Jesus is identification by faith for salvation, and receiving forgiveness sola gratia, by grace alone. No more punishment because God desires mercy, not sacrifice. My sins are forgiven by a loving God, not punished by proxy.

If you know Christ than life is yours, victory is yours, forgiveness is yours, and Above all, Christ is yours. No more servants but friends, or so said our precious Savior.

"hath ceased from his own works"

The Christian life for many is a constant debate with flesh and spirit, and it's telling that this very comment elicits one of two responses, either a battle of 2 natures, or a battle of sin versus holiness. Ironically, neither of these views are taught in scripture.

Romans 7 is so often used to justify a life of sin, spiritual failure, a dog eat dog spiritual mentality that puts the Christian against himself in an ever losing battle of wills.

What those of us who have been shown our complete and total worthlessness know all to well is the freeing truth of Romans 7, and the tenor of the entire new testament, that our righteousness is filthy.

Anything that stems from self is what is being taught here. Sadly many, if not most Christians have been lied to and told that they must work to maintain Christs favor and salvation. Even though it is God who keeps us as we rest in Him, as we are taught throughout the new testament, the devil preaches that we must fulfill law, rules and duties to somehow remain and abide.

When a man is born again he desires to do good, to keep law, to live holy, but quickly realizes he can't. The harder he tries the further he falls. The more he tries to pray the more brass like become the heavens. The more he studies his Bible the drier it becomes, until finally he feels all is lost. Men teach push through it and try harder and do more, but God says stop it and rest.

It's a paradox to be sure. But what we do stems directly from who we are, and never from what we try to become. When a defeated believer finally rests and with patience and faith looks to the one who justifies, he will also sanctify.

The rest of God waits for those who "do" one thing, cease doing. Romans 8 is ready to be lived in by the person who simply waits on the Holy Spirit to fill them, after they have had the horrid experience of living out the reality of Romans 7.

Doing is the enemy of being. The rest of God is the only place where true fruit can ever be borne. It is Jesus who lives and moves and Has His being in the believer by faith, apart from works.

"no longer I"

Jesus is the only way to the Father. Himself; and never the religion that man creates around Him or His teaching. Every philosophy and religion in the world thinks it has the market cornered in regards to truth and virtue. Tragically the modern religion that calls itself Christianity has joined the fray of storming the gates of Gods kingdom, except that it too has weapons raised to assault the very God inside.

We are told to beware of self imposed religion, sanctimonious ethical teaching, arbitrary rules and legalistic practices that throw the believer into a downward spiral of self assessment, self condemnation, self improvement and self sight. Sadly those that think themselves most holy are those that are the most skilled in self sight, the seeing of what they need to be, want to be, try to be, and are telling others what they ought to be and do.

Ravenous wolves are those the pervert the gospel of grace and lead sheep astray. They throw rules and practices at the new believer because they don't see the truth that Jesus nailed the law, with all of its works and condemnation, to the cross of Calvary. Jesus bought us with the price of His blood, ransoming us from the power of Satan, but also redeeming us from the curse of the law. No more works, only Christ. The only truth in the world is Christ Himself, and no amount of virtue, self imposed ethics, rules or law can replace the power of the indwelling person of Jesus.

When we partake in the body and blood of Christ by faith, we receive the cleansing of our consciences from dead works, and our great high priest has entered the inner sanctuary ONCE, which means no more remembrance of sin.

The legalistic duty bound mentality we find in the modern, revival seeking church at large seeks to bring Christ down from heaven. Is He not dwelling within those that partake of His body by faith? His blood cleanses, His body is freedom. Jesus spoke of consuming His flesh, partaking of His body, this is yet another allusion to His indwelling. When we consume food, hunger is satisfied and the food we consume sustains us from within. Meat indeed, except when we eat of this food we will never hunger again.

This identification of the death and resurrection of Jesus by faith is the conduit of the Holy Spirit to indwell the believer.

Paul spoke plainly, I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live, Christ lives in me. No longer Paul, but Christ living in Paul. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The mystery hid until Paul was given the glorious liberty to expound it for us is Christ in the believer.

Is it to bold for me to say, I no longer live but Christ lives in me? Jesus living, moving, having His being in me, as me, in the world. The ministry of reconciliation, God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, was given to us as believers. This isn't preaching, praying, or anything we do. It is simply Jesus in us, reconciling the world to Himself.

This is the most important revelation a believing and broken Christian can have. When we come to the end of ourselves, our self effort, our prayer, our duties, our ministry, we become partakers of the divine nature. The only one capable of love, for He is love, indwells the believer. God the Holy Spirit will only fill a vessel that ceases from his own works, because a vessel is a container, not a self willed instigator.

No longer I, but Christ in the world in me, as me, reconciling the world to Himself. This is the ministry of reconciliation given to saints who travel the Romans 7 road, and cease their own doing so that the Father can work in them both to will and do of His good pleasure by the indwelling of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

Bold claims, bolder faith.

"teach them to obey"

What is life in the spirit if not the direct manifestation of the life of Jesus in and through the believer? We are told throughout the new testament that Christ in us, the word abiding within, is the power of the believer. We are taught the law doesn't save, but in fact is used by the devil to deceive us into actually doing the exact opposite of what we desire, living in perfection. So what is the answer?

A believer (I use the term believer in the strictest sense, those indwelt by the Holy Spirit and sanctified by the blood of Christ) quickly realizes that the spiritual life, with all of its raptures and joy, quickly leads back to one thing only, obedience to the teaching of Jesus. This obedience is the eye of the needle through which we all must fit to walk in the kingdom of God.

But Jesus said that about rich men, the theology student quickly retorts. He did, but rich men are not the only ones living in this world trying to make more out of much. This, and all of Jesus commands are not just for those to whom it was directly spoken, but for all of those who seek to walk in oneness with God in perfection.

Perfection is the goal of the truly saved person, as it should be. Jesus promises it, and commands it, in the same breath. Therefore ye shall be perfect, perfect in love, sanctified wholly, spirit soul and body. A lofty command and a taxing and all encompassing promise.

Jesus seeks to lead us on, obedience by obedience, step by step, into the life He knew with His Father while He walked the earth. We shall be as He was, doing only those things that please the Father, one with Him.

Selling all transcends money and reaches into the depths of the soul. A person who is possessed by anything in this life in fact possesses nothing, not even life. The life, eternal life of Christ, is to know God. This should come as great comfort to the believer as He seeks to know God, because the Helper has come.

Jesus commands nothing He does not impart into us the ability to perform, as He desires to simply perform it using us, in us, through us, and as us. He said as long as He was in the world, He was the light of the world, and than tells us we are the light of the world. Paradox only to those who don't have eyes to see. He is the light of the world, and it is this light in us that is our hope of glory.

If we don't obey the teaching of Jesus, we cannot say He dwells within. This is the tenor of Christian teaching in any circles that actually teach Christianity. An inability to obey Jesus is unbelief, because it is belief that empowers us to obey. We live by faith, and if we fail to enter into God's rest it is not due to our lack of trying or working, but due to unbelief.

Always remember, what we do directly proceeds from what we are, and what we are directly proceeds from where we place our faith. Faith in Christ births anew and sanctifies, and changes what we are. We then obey out of this sense of fulfillment and adequacy, rather than grudgingly work from a sense of lack and duty. We love.

"For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory"

The vast difference between obedience and working is quite possibly the churches largest blind spot today. We get so caught up in the historical Jesus, the Son of God who shed His blood for the forgiveness of sin, that we forget about the risen Son of God who is alive today. In most circles you would think that believers are mourning a death, asking God where He took the body, and mistaking the risen Lord for the gardener.

I say that to say this, we work for something that is ultimately temporary and fading. It's painful to see so many dear saints of God either turning back to the world in defeated and discouraged abandonment of the faith, or just saying to God, in all practicality, if this horrid condemnation and lack I feel is Christianity, I guess I'll just look forward to the return of Christ.

The latter seems pious, and the former will be argued with by those with letters in their hearts, but we all know what I am talking about. I've heard it said that the the most holy man in a meeting will be the one most broken over his present life of sin if the Holy Spirit were to manifest Himself. I defy any one to find this in the new testament without blatant proof texting.

The crux of the matter is simply this; we have mistaken works with obedience. Working is occupational. We work for something so as to earn something else. When a man works he does so from necessity and generally only to accomplish a goal. Once the goal is accomplished he will happily give up working in retirement and let others work to keep him satisfied. He works and takes pride in what he does, but never joy in it.

Obedience is trained, and can only stem from a heart turned to something from which it gains pleasure. A man obeys because his will is aligned with the will of the one who calls for his obedience. A soldier who is truly a soldier believes in, and has bought into the goals and plans of his commanding officer, and gladly lays down his life to see it fulfilled. He would do the thing anyway, and gladly submits to the will of one he obeys, because he sees no difference.

So it is with Christ.

When a man works for Christ he will quickly burn out. Working implies earning, and when anyone seeks to earn something from Jesus he will soon find an offended God. Working is self willed and self motivated. Praying for revival, praying to be renewed in spirit, Bible study to learn some doctrinal nugget to hold over our fellows, all ends in man glorying. The Father seeks to give freely to those who ask in faith, and will withhold even salvation from those who seek to work for it.

Obedience is the natural outflow of a branch growing from a vine. It is nothing more than the purpose for which the vine exists, and it can't help but do otherwise. The branch, as long as it simply remains a branch attached to its vine, bears fruit. It shares its nature with the branch, and their motives, goals, and end results are the same, they bear fruit together.

If something is introduced into the vineyard that has to work to maintain it's place, it's probably a weed, or an invasive species. A hypocrite and pretender. No matter how hard it tries everything around it knows it doesn't belong, and ironically it knows it too. It's not a branch, or it's a branch growing from a false vine, more accurately.

The devil, the false vine (we know there must be a false vine, because Jesus said he was the true vine), will put many religious practices and cliches in full reach of anyone who desires to work for anything from God. Prayer, the bible, fasting, abstaining from things deemed worldly, all are instruments of the spirit of sin, the light bearer (Lucifer), and to many believers fall victim to his wielding of law and are deceived.

Before we can obey we must be grafted into the true vine. Than all we do is remain, and the vines nature gives life enough for the branch to bear fruit. Faith and a settled mind on Christ in us, our life, is all that's necessary for a holy life. Faith is all that is necessary for fruit to be borne. Faith is all that is necessary for the Holy Spirit to fill a believer.

If these truths seem foreign to you dear reader, and if you do not have the witness within (you must be honest, or God will leave you to your works, because even the witness is gained when faith is exercised and the witness taken by faith, other wise we glory in the knowing), know that Jesus waits for those who seek for His glory, and He will not work where men work. Simple faith in Jesus blood is that which justifies, and this same faith, realizing the work is already done, will also sanctify. The fullness of God waits for those who surrender, and cease from their own works in patient faith.

Christ will be formed in you, and because of this you will be made perfect in love, by a simple faith realization that the work is done. "I am crucified with Christ" "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me". Take it by faith, and let Him live His life using you.

"search me"

We see very little in scripture concerning self examination, and much in the way of seeking God to search us. When a man approaches the Lord's supper, he must examine himself, but Paul clarifies later, this is to see Christ in us. Christ does not dwell in reprobates, and a reprobate is not to partake.

More is said by men to examine ourselves than by God, and this should alarm us. Why is this?

When a man examines himself he see with a mans eyes. He see what reason, intellect, his limited knowledge, and over all, himself sees. Self searching self, and self cannot change self, no matter the observation.

When God searches a man, that man is truly searched. That which makes manifest is light, and God is light. There is no darkness in light. The most dangerous prayer a man can pray is "search me o God", because when the light truly shines, everything is laid bare.

Self will only examine what it's checklists and standards tells it to examine, and the first reaction to self realization is self trying to justify that it's deeds are right and good. A man turning inward to himself in order to judge right from wrong, holiness from unholiness, will quickly find that he can do nothing but condemn himself for it. Self cannot set free.

There is no value in turning within unless we are looking for what Paul tells the Corinthian saints to find, Christ within. The Holy Spirit will never simply leave us in our findings and to our own devices to deal, He will deal with us, and what He finds.

The power for deliverance, purity (being unmixed), and a single eye toward Jesus is only found from the Holy Spirit within, the blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, and the Christ life being allowed to manifest itself through us.

Leave off self, so much that you only trust God to search you. The blood cleanses, the resurrected and Glorified Savior within sets free as He lives His life in us.

Don't you know, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you be reprobates?

"apart from me you can do nothing"

Paul spoke of preaching Christ. If anyone could exhort men with endless lists of dos and donts, certainly it was the Pharisees of Pharisees. Paul walked blameless in the law, yet still penned Romans 7. Paul still moved men by the millions, right up until today, to Jesus while being a stuttering fool in the eyes of the world. Paul said bluntly, I preach Christ.

I find more and more everyday that everything in the bible, from cover to cover, leads directly back to Jesus. From creation to consumation, all is through Christ and to Christ. Nothing exists except He upholds it with His word. One day every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, Christ.

Why is it than that men preach so much of duty, holiness, what they and others should be doing, and preach about men and the world so much? Whether preached against or preached in favor of, men still preach themselves en masse today.

Have we forgotten that Jesus is our righteousness, sanctification, redemption, wisdom, life, hope, and in Him we already have every spiritual blessing?

How can a man, calling himself a Christian, say he has any lack at all? Does he not have Christ?

Oh but Paul said he filled up what was lacking in Christs afflictions, the carnal contrarian mumbles (Paul lived the life of an intercessor, forgetting himself, and never thinking of needing more, he had Christ).

I beg you dear saint, by the mercies of God, look to the Son of God for all that you need. The one you seek tells you that when you come to Him you will never hunger again. Jesus, the risen and glorified Savior, is the one that said when you drink of Him you will never thirst again.

Why is their so much hunger and thirst at the Lord's table? Does He not feed you? Does He not give you to drink?

Why do we slander His name by always looking to the world to see if we love it? Why are we always looking to sin to see if we live in it? Why are we always looking to self to see if it's dead?

Why are we looking away from Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, to these other things, and than wondering why we have no victory?

When a man truly sees the depths of his weakness, he will never look there again. Christ is all, and apart from Him you can do nothing, but you can do all things through the strength He gives you.

What you lack can never be found from hating the fact you don't have it, or trying to get it, or making sure you don't lose it. This is mans way, the broad way, and leads to destruction.

Jesus is the narrow path, Himself. Only Him and nothing else. Not your devotion. Not your consecration. Not your experience. Not even your faith.

Not Jesus first, but Jesus only.

Apart from the living Christ, the crucified, risen and glorified God, you can do absolutely nothing.

"I never knew you"

In the same way that a cockroach scurries into the cover of darkness, so to does a man when the light of the world is shown. In this day of busyness and activity, knowledge and progress, to suggest a living Christ is anathema, and men scatter like cockroaches at the mere mention to take cover in the light of their comfortable religion.

I've noticed, in the many and varied way men have expounded this scripture, that they either focus on the lawlessness, or make knowing a mere doctrinal tip of the hat to Jesus, so that they can continue on in their comfort and philosophy.

Lawlessness in the teaching of Jesus is simply speaking of men that do not have the law written on their hearts in spiritual circumcision. The scalpel of the Holy Spirit has not done it's work to make them new creatures, so all they end up being is hypocrites with a few good doctrines and sayings.

But to know! What joy it is to know. To know implies relationship. To know implies life. To know changes everything.

Men will nod and smile broadly with hearty amens until you suggest that Christ is living today, right now, as you read this. He lives and seeks men to indwell by the Holy Spirit. He is no longer dead. He is alive.

To believe in the truth of scripture is an ascent with more gravitas than many realize. But to believe in the living Word, the word who is God, the faithful and true knower of hearts and thoughts, this my friends is the summit of all beliefs. To believe in the living Christ is the line in the sand.

Who are they who deny the resurrection? It's a tragic thing indeed when you come to realize that many more deny it in practice than in doctrine. If Christ is risen and the Bible be true, everything changes, and everything then becomes much more serious. If Christ is the risen Lord, and the scriptures that speak of Him be true, no one will escape His gaze, His judgment, His love, His gospel. Whether to glory or hell, we must all come to see that everything culminates in the glorious and living Son of God, Jesus Christ the righteous.

But what is this we see in the Bible? This living Jesus seeks believers, men and women of faith, for His habitation? That He may dwell in their hearts by faith? Christ in you? Christ formed in you? What a ridiculous doctrine! This is obviously just Paul and his literary flourish. It's not literal.

I find this the common response when even those who rely on being "fully consecrated" believers are confronted with this literal doctrine of Pauls.

I never knew you Jesus says. It doesn't matter what you know about the living Jesus, or how fully consecrated you were, or how many demons you cast out, or how many rules you kept, or how many sermons you listened to, or how many hours you prayed, or how many chapters you read in your devotional time this morning.

I never KNEW you. To know Jesus is to have Him as your life. The very one that animates your being, no longer I, but Christ. Lost in oneness with the living Lord, the risen Son of God. In Christ yes, but Christ in us.

I never knew you. Why? Because for Jesus to increase, I must decrease. Death brings resurrection, and all the believer is must die for the "one spirit" life of Christ in me. No more self even in my religion.

Consecration? Jesus calls us to die. Life comes from God and is therefore offensive to men and their religion because they can't get it themselves, it has to be given.

To know is to live, and for me to live is Christ.

"a good showing in the flesh"

Have you noticed how much of the current curriculum of Christian teaching is simply things to do? Different methods of self examination and 10 new rules to condemn yourself with! 5 new things to judge everyone around you against and make sure your as bitter as possible! Here is 16 reasons you're not as carnal as that guy over there... Or maybe more carnal than he is, if that's your thing. We have something for everyone, no matter who you want to condemn, or who you want exalt, next Sundays message, 5 ways to tell if you love the world, will help you not only pacify your own conscience, but you can give it to that fella you know next door so he knows God hates his TV!

Christianity has reduced itself down to just more rules and regulations, salesmanship and manipulation. Why is it that men can only seem to find themselves in a book so filled with Christ?

Here is where I get accused of hypocrisy. Don't you say even if you preach against it your not preaching Christ? You would be right. You found your excuse to ignore me, with your fault finding, and ironically proved my point.

The garden had 2 trees that were written about. One gave knowledge of good and evil, the other gave life. I'm curious what tree most of us would eat from if we were forced to just ball up every Christian book, sermon, article on holiness and obedience, and be forced to pick the tree based on the law of averages - man would fall all over again.

I can't say why humanity is so obsessed with judging things and setting everything up as opposite to something else. But God tells us why, or rather, tells us who dupes mankind into wanting to be as God, eating from that tree.

You still to this day have 2 options. The first is the knowledge of good and evil - always seeking for who is right, best, holiest, or more often than that, wrong, worst, and most unholy.

The second option is life. A life with God where Christ dwells within, who is our life. A life where we see this world as God sees it - infinite possibility and millions of people created in His image that need redemption and salvation, and millions of His children that need freeing from Satans schemes to trick them into eating from that forbidden tree, over and over again.

God is love, and love sees things in a vastly different way than just good and evil. Perhaps that's for another day, after we have all gotten to our faces in repentance and changed our minds about some things.

"but fails at one point, is guilty of all"

How often men will make their relationship to God dependant on things and duties, rather than the finished work of Jesus. The sinister part of this, they rarely even know they do it. The devil is wily and clever, and will easily outsmart someone seeking to make a good showing in the flesh, even to the point where he tricks them into believing they do well.

The rule of law is simply this: if you think you can, than do it, all of it.

Christians have a bad habit of cherry picking only what suits them, especially when it comes to devotion to God. Many pulpits will make a believer feel as if He is only actually right with God when fulfills certain duties. The "morning watch" devotional time is perhaps the worst offender.

Have you ever met a believer that feels that if they miss a devotional time than nothing could possibly go right for them? They may not say it outright, but everything about them says it, they don't need to use the words. They have set up a law that governs their relationship to God, or at least how they feel about it.

The list of these duties is endless, especially in holiness circles. But James says, unless you do it all, you're guilty of all. It's a trick of Satan to pull believers into the flesh, thinking that what they do has any impact on how God feels about them, and the paradox is, when a believer enters into this carnal, legalistic mindset, he ends up living in the exact opposite way he desires (see Galatians and Romans 7).

You can set up rules and regulations for yourself and those around you, but it will never result in your holiness. In fact, it will always result in your sinning, and all of the works of the flesh are quickly to follow when you walk in the legalistic flesh.

We tend to forget Paul was an actual human being. What we read during our devotional times, he wrote. He never wrote a single epistle thinking "this will be read for generations to come, eventually being canonized as holy scripture". Paul lived a very human life, animated and empowered by Christ within, and out of that life he lived, he wrote. He lived his life in unconscious holiness and completely self forgetting devotion to the living Jesus.

The point I am making is simply this: if our doctrine cannot be true for all, it is not true at all. Can we preach a mandatory scripture reading regime and quiet time schedule to a prisoner for the Lord? When should someone enslaved to a government, with every waking hour supervised and controlled by a whip yielding master, spend his morning watch in complete lonesome devotion to God?

What if the believer has no Bible? Abraham had no scriptures.

What if the believer is inundated by things that prevent him from praying in some secret space for long periods of time?

The new testament is filled with perfectly livable commands for all, in any circumstance. The trick is knowing and living out of the life of the living Jesus. Life is very different than devotion. Life is always, devotion is set aside time.

I have no answer because God works in all those that are His, within their circumstances and lives. Those that know Him, know life. We are never in a position where we can press rule and standards on the sons of God. We have clearly outlines moral principles in scripture that need absolutely no interpretation, they just need to be relayed. But even these are fruit of the Christ life within, fruit of the spirit, fruit of the abiding life of the branch in the vine.

Never take what a man tells you as your standard of living. Simply abide in the living Jesus, the true vine, and He will make sure that, whatever your circumstance may be, you will know Him and the power of His resurrection.

"that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith"

Much is said about the reception of the Holy Spirit. Tarry here and loose your tongue until you speak some language you have never spoken. Tarry there and agonize and work up tears and conviction of sin and God might do something. Tarry with that person so he can do something that might work, and God might do something than. Pray harder and longer, surrender more completely, read that person's experience or that other guys, because my theology doesn't completely agree with the first one.

Our knowledge is our down fall. I heard it said that God made man in His own image, and man, ever the gentleman, returned the favor. Throughout scripture we see God acquiescing to sinful humans, even bearing their reproach when world around them sees Him like they would any other heathen god, decimating people groups and sniffing burning animals. So much of scripture is in fact what not to do, and I don't mean the "thou shalt nots", I mean the dim and foreshadowing ways Israel saw the God who would eventually tear the veil and finally reveal Himself completely in Jesus. We see bright spots in the prophets and others when they saw through the kings, judges, and law and foresaw the glorious savior. But those glimpses, at least those that are smack on the nose, are rare.

God is not what we make Him, but what he reveals Himself to be in Jesus. We can so easily look to the old covenant and think that God is pleased with those sacrifices and try to work up some new covenant system to emulate it, tarrying, praying, consecrating, and yet forget all about Jesus, who is God.

Why wasn't the Holy Spirit given? Because the believer didn't consecrated himself fully enough? Or was it because our tarrying wasn't long enough? Maybe because we didn't read that certain theologian and do exactly as he said?

The Holy Spirit wasn't given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Once again man comes in with his intellect and says, "I guess I have to do something to glorify Jesus and I'll receive the Holy Spirit".

Jesus has been glorified for 2000 years. That is already accomplished. In the words of Jesus Himself, "It is finished".

He died, was buried, and rose from the dead to forever live and be glorified at the Fathers right hand. You can't do a thing to glorify Jesus, and Jesus Himself said as much. Our fruit glorifies the Father, but our fruit is not even our fruit, we just think it is.

So if it's all accomplished and finished, what must we do?

Believe in the finished work of Jesus, because no outward show of piety will do a thing for you, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision will avail you anything, but a new creation. Ironically everyone who has received the Holy Spirit has only ever received Him by faith and because of Jesus. Everything they did only led them to finally stop doing those things when they realize how pointless and worthless they are. It all leads to faith in Christ, but man still, for some reason, looks to self effort and flesh.

Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?

"Though He slay me"

How often believers get trapped in soulish religion rather than spiritual faith. It is so often preached that the goal is the mountaintop, when all to often the mountain top is merely the thunderings of Sinai. The pulpit can easily make it seem like the Christian life is all rapture and glory, when in reality it's an enduring faith through the repetitive daily lives we find as our God ordained circumstances.

The life of Jesus is proof of this. We only see one transfiguration, one descent of the Holy Spirit, but over and over again we see the multitudes pressing in and power going out. We see a wearied and soul stricken Jesus, following His Father through the hell scape of human existence and drinking the cup of His will.

The soul of the believer (intellect, emotions, etc.) is often touted as the seat of God's dealing with man. How much bondage is found in dwelling in the soul life. While it is true that God deals with our souls, it is also true that the psalmist cries for his soul to be still.

Soulish religion depends on emotion, feeling, intellect, doing things to please God; and therefore fails the second we don't feel right, are stricken with a hint of doubt, condemn ourselves for some perceived wrong, or any other number of things. Soulish religion can never endure reality, because reality and life crush the soul more often than not.

Spiritual life is a life of faith. Walking with a trust in the promises of God and the finished work of Jesus. Faith looks around and sees through the physical world and sees hope and love, sees God working in all circumstances and people, and decries feeling and doing with a steadfast devotion to, and reliance on the Father. Life in the spirit is a life of faith.

Isn't it ironic that we feel farthest from God when we think we are doing the most for God? It's always in activity when men feel they need more of God. Soul presses you into self effort, and it's always evident when the yoke is heavy.

Faith says even if we feel 100 miles from God, and feel as if life is falling apart and nothing is going right, yet will I bless Him. Faith brings rest because faith that looks to Jesus disregards feeling and circumstances, emotion and doubt. Faith says even if I never feel your presence again, never receive another answer to prayer, and end up in hell at the end of it, I will still believe and trust.

The crucified life is a life that can endure the "my God, why have you forsaken me" and still end up in resurrection and a glorified seat on the throne.

ESchaible,

Faith says even if I never feel your presence again, never receive another answer to prayer, and end up in hell at the end of it, I will still believe and trust.

How can faith say that???

All of that are contradictory to faith.

Faith rests on the sure promises of God in Christ:

2 Cor. 1:20 --
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

Faith is the assurance that the Lord Jesus will NEVER leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

The Lord Jesus has said:

Math. 28:20 ”“
"……… lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Faith is the assurance that God will answer our prayers in Jesus’ name.

John 14:13-14 ”“
Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

Faith is the assurance that hell is no longer our home.

Col. 1:136 ”“
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son

Eph. 1:20-21, 2:6 ”“
………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 every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come……………… and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

The crucified life is a life that can endure the "my God, why have you forsaken me" and still end up in resurrection and a glorified seat on the throne.

To me this is the crucified life:

Gal. 2:20 --
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Because Christ now lives in me, I will be denying Christ if I say, "My God, why have you forsaken me".

The crucified life is the life in which the "I" that is forsaken by God has been crucified, and now Christ is in me forevermore.

------------

Hope you can clarify if I have misunderstood what you said.

"I believe, help my unbelief"

Honesty is a rare treasure in circles that call themselves Christian these days. We have forsaken reality for well meaning piety. As long as we say the right things, even if we don't believe it in our depths, we think our profession is genuine. This may work in conversation with man who's vision is only skin deep, but what about in conversation with He who knows your thoughts and intentions?

Jesus treasured the honesty of the man who held fast in faith in spite of his soul doubt. The soul cries against the life of faith until it is sanctified. Doubts, and all manner of pressure come from without. Faith is from within, Christ in you.

Just like a man cannot love God who is invisible if he is unable to love his brother who he sees, how much more is man unable to be honest with God when he doesn't even have the ability to walk in real and authentic fellowship with his brethren?

Looking and sounding pious and doctrinally correct has become more important than being an authentic expression of Christ in us. When a man can simply bear his heart to the Father and in honesty tell him what He already knows, he will see the glory of God. Beware of self seeking religion, only seeking things from God. Seek the person of Jesus, because many people are reciting perfectly sound doctrine in hell.

Reality and honesty are perhaps the greatest needs of this modern, fake, online world we live in. When we can honestly come to the Father with our state, and lay all things at His feet, only then will growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus possible.

God will leave you to your delusions if you come to Him with them, but will always use them to teach you deep lessons you could never learn other wise. If you come to the Father in unreality, trying to sound pious rather than real, He will honor your piety and let it humiliate you until you are in a place of brokenness. He is patient, and will never force Himself on someone who thinks they have it all together. Eventually the pride of spiritual life will come crashing down, and you will realize that Jesus is all things, and has nothing to give you apart from Himself. He is not in the business of giving men things, He will only ever give Himself.

Lord you are all things to me, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, love, power, glory; live them out through me and as me in the world today.

"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us"

The crying need of this hour is seeing and hearing. Seeing implies something very different than looking. To look is to observe, to see is to perceive. Just the same there are two hearings, and motive makes the difference. One hears only to seek his own reply, the other hears to understand and obey. The litmus test of which of these we each employ is whether or not we have the corresponding experience, because if we don't than we have neither seen nor heard.

The vast majority of professors of faith these days seem to have heard without ever hearing. This is proven by the devaluation of testimony and the exaltation of doctrine. When a man in a meeting can testify to what he has seen and heard, and consequently be cast aside as fanatical because something that was said may have been deemed unorthodox, we have lost the entirety of what Jesus died to provide us.

Jesus rebuked those that threw around doctrinal nuggets and sought the security of sound thinking and than turned around and told other men that they must be born a second time. He never once looked upon those who sought to follow him through the lens of what creed they held, because those that held most staunchly to creeds sought not to follow, but to trick Him. They were coiled vipers seeking a reason to crucify Him.

Experience is in fact the one thing all those who are truly born again share together, because being born again is in fact experience with the living Jesus, not doctrine. No man is able to testify concerning what he learns and parses, only what he sees and hears.

The irony is in the fact that when a man truly experiences God, whether it be some life changing cross borne, or the new birth, out of the woodwork come little Pharisees seeking to trip him up with questions and phrases like, "we mustn't exalt experience above scripture" or "even the devil can give you experiences" (strange how alike these accusations are to those Pharisaical accusations leveled at Jesus).

How pious they sound with their savour of death, but I say if a man experiences God let him seek the Lord and then tell us all what he has seen and heard that we too may have fellowship in the glory (isn't this the gift of prophecy? [not the office of prophet]).

Never be afraid of labels given to you by those that have not what you were given. Always be weary and ready to acknowledge it was given, we have nothing we have not received. The new birth is an experience. Sanctification and union is an experience. Experience is everywhere, throughout all scripture and Christian biography. Dry dogma kills, but Jesus, the quickening Spirit, brings only life.

Mystic is an insult thrown around by those who have no pallette to taste the divine mercies that flow from the throne. Never take that title as an insult, but never seek it either. If it's given to you, receive it with joy as it means the Lord has shown you a great mercy despite your unworthiness. Bow before the Lord and seek Him for His own sake; never settle for anything less than Jesus Himself.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life"

David, with all of his faults, is perhaps the greatest old testament figure of faith and single eyed devotion and trust in God. In our day of relative ease, comfort and privilege, it's easy to forget the depths of faith it really takes to walk with God. It's evident when the most vehement struggles of the church are no longer persecution and actual death, but rather whether or not it's sinful to own a television; and we struggle to see how we can live in holiness when certain songs are played on a publicly heard radio, that we have completely lost the plot.

David penned his Psalms throughout tumult and uncertainty, in a range of circumstances from peaceful shepherding to being pursued by assassins and kings, in literal valleys of death. The worst many of us will ever face is someone doubting our relationship to God based on some man made and sanctimonious religious rule, like whether or not a woman wears pants, or the length of our hair.

For David, life was faith. Not part of his doctrine; not a chapter in his systematic theology; but the very fabric of his being. Right from the day Samuel rubbed oil on his forehead, David was a single eyed servant, and no matter what happened around him or to him, God was his ever present refuge. He ran for safety into the one to whom he prayed, the shepherd of his soul.

Our circumstances may seem daunting, but always remember that while we struggle in drudgery, repetitiveness, spiritual boredom, and an ever present temptation to make mountains out of mole hills, there were those who were forced into mountain caves, fleeing for their lives with only one hope to physically live, God Himself.

While we constantly plead promises and seek spiritual blessing, never forget those in Hebrews 11 that looked to the one who promised. The promises of God can never be exalted to the forgetfulness of the God of the promises. Throughout any and all circumstances of life, God is at work for you, if you will just take the time to acknowledge Him and His presence. Faith, even for us in this time, is in fact the conduit of life, and by it we must walk.

Faith is the only way we live in Christ, and by faith is the only way Christ lives in us. Nothing we have done or will do can please the Lord, unless it be done in faith.

"I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee"

Many believers are the under the distinct impression that right doctrine, right action, and right feelings equate salvation. I was one of these. For many years my life consisted of unwavering devotion to right doctrine, right action, and right feeling. Everything was fine as long as I fulfilled the duties and things I felt called to do. Whether it was living by faith for provision, preaching repentance and forgiveness of sin, writing of the deep things of God, or preaching to congregations of God's people, as long as I was engaged I could ignore the fact that inwardly it was a sham. Activity for God can have that dulling effect on the spiritual senses, leaving you to one day look back and wonder what happened.

God is not a God of explanation. He won't let the bottom drop out of your life, He will remove it. Those that think they are something are better off taking heed, because pride cometh before destruction. Many will argue God will never allow someone who seeks Him to face anything that could possibly lead them into sin or trials that seem unworthy of His purposes, but who knows the depths of God's purposes other than Himself?

Labor and legalism leads to licentiousness and lewdness, I know this to be true in fact. This is not an item for debate in anyone who has experienced the destruction God lays to the lives of those He calls.

Many make bold claims of being dead to the world and dead to sin, but death is deep destruction to even the religious and good things you think you have a claim to. God will, if necessary, destroy reputation and pride through any means necessary, just look to the prophets throughout scripture. His destruction is such that no man or explanation can repair, and He leaves His servant with nothing left but Himself. All worldly and fleshly confidence will be utterly destroyed, even the things we hold as good things, things that even other saints think are good.

Will God remove His protection and allow His servant to fly into a life of sin and self indulgence in order to accomplish some deeper purpose? Yes.

Will God remove His protection and allow His servant to destroy his own reputation and fall into all manner of Satans traps for some deeper purpose? Yes.

Will God destroy to the uttermost just as He saves to the uttermost? Yes.

But once God lays hold of a man, and utterly destroys everything he is, what than is left? Well the answer is simple, all that is left is God Himself, and this is the deeper purpose.

If you have heard with your ear, brace yourself if you seek to know Him and hold anything back from Him, because before you can see with your eyes, God will destroy you.

"of no reputation"

The world lauds men of reputation. After all, what is a man in all his natural glory if other men don't roundly applaud him for his intellect, actions and sound ethics. Often times the world will promote and applaud a man simply because of his reputation, with absolutely no knowledge of who he is, what he says, why he says it or whether or not his life is in line with the message. The reputation of a man is many times his most prized possession.

The mire of this truth is too often trod by the church. In fact, I would be so bold as to say the reputation of a man is more important to men, than the present reality of that same man. A mans reputation is based solidly on his past, and if men lean on what they have accomplished there, there it will stay, and all present reality of God will stay there to.

The horrid result of this is wolves parading around with brilliantly adorned reputations deceiving God's people with well spoken doctrine. I speak from a place of experience in this matter, because for a long time I was a ravenous wolf held up by nothing but reputation. Following is a quote from something I wrote almost 20 years ago, as an unregenerate, false prophet thinking he knew something of the 23rd Psalm.

"David, likely with his little flock of sheep bleating around him, nestled under a tree by the Jordan reflects on the LordÂ’s goodness to His people. What a wonderful, and intimate illustration to show us the way in which God almighty sees those whom He has purchased with His own blood. The Lord as a shepherd is something to which many bright theologians never aspire to theologize simply because it fails to be systematic. I am convinced heartily that when one comes to this union and knowledge of the Father systematic theology begins to be more of a burden than a blessing. The affection must be set on things above, to properly understand this union, and this dear and precious relationship that comes with an intimate understanding and knowledge of God."

What a sham. True in word no doubt, but death nonetheless. Anyone who knew me knew a fervent preacher of holiness and avid street preacher outside, but they didn't see the wolfish boy I was inside, always intruding on things I knew nothing about. Thank God in His glorious wisdom he saw fit to leave me to my own devices for a season, and show me what it is to truly know life from death.

Jesus made Himself of no reputation. This is significant because just as a man builds his own reputation, only he can take it away. In my case, the Lord had to destroy everything in my life that bore any resemblance of Christ, because I had built for myself and entire pantry of broken cisterns, and deceived even the elect of God, because they all saw the cracks and heard me preach brokenness, and didn't care that broken cisterns hold no water.

Reputation precedes men, meaning it has the ability to blind other men to the truth of what someone is based on the hearsay of who he is, before he even gets there. The only answer is a walk soundly in the Spirit, because only He can discern the hearts of men.

I can tell you plainly that deception is powerfully subtle and in every case takes the deceived unawares. I flew under the radar in churches that touted spiritual authority, discernment, holiness and the presence of God for years and threw around lettered death to everyone that heard me. This begs a very serious question, how much of God did they have in reality?

God is wise, and left me to my own devices so I could turn around and make myself of no reputation, even so far as to become a byward in every circle I once travelled. Like Job, he allowed Satan a good solid crack at me, but unlike Job, I failed the test.

God in His infinite mercy used those experiences to take me further along in my paltry journey through Psalm 23 and teach me the meaning of the rod and staff. I never commented that far into the Psalm all of those years ago, because God only chastises Sons, and I was none of His, no matter how whitewashed I was.

But all who practice the truth end up coming to the light, as Jesus said. Once the light truly shown, I now had the death and knowledge necessary to understand, I had heard with my ears, and like Job, I now saw with my eyes. I had nothing to commend me to man, nothing at all except the reputation of hypocrisy, sin, and presenting for years something that was completely meant to lead men astray, no matter what it looked like to others.

Anything offered to appear to be something that it is not is a lie. This is reputation, because no man of God has one, not even Jesus, the Son of Man. He made Himself of no reputation and every one of us must somehow, at some time in our lives follow that same path if we ever hope to be any son of His, for He MUST be all in all.

"The servant girl at the door said to Peter, "You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?” He said, "I am not.”

Peter was the apostle to the Jews, a high calling. But what we know of Peter is a mixed bag. On one hand full of zeal and passion for his Master; on the other hand full of self effort and self preservation. A man after God's own heart, yet blatantly and openly a man after his own good intentions and self will. How than do we reconcile this obvious contradiction and juxtaposition?

The answer lies in Jesus telling Peter to "follow me". Peter first followed Jesus out self effort and zeal. His actions were the actions that most people in Christendom today would applaud as a selfless display of love for Jesus. His undying zeal and desire to follow and protect Jesus was unmatched among the disciples, to the point where Peter was the only man other than God incarnate to ever defy the laws of gravity and tread upon the water.

Peter didn't need a lick of divine assistance to follow Jesus. The pure fact of what Jesus did, what he said, and the surrounding atmosphere, both socially and politically, was enough to enamor this fleshly man to follow him out of his own self effort. Many in Sunday services are exactly the same. The atmosphere, the music, the emotion, the pure intrigue of the doctrines, the social acceptance they find, the sense of purpose they gain, the social standing they can attain by pure zealous working... the flesh they can walk in and the soul satisfaction they can attain to, the self indulgence and self effort, the emotional release from tears shed to erotic religious singing, the spirit of the world influencing masses of people into thinking that thick emotional and social atmosphere is the presence of a God.

Today we have buildings full of Peters that have yet to deny their Lord. All it will take is a brutal trial and a deep questioning and the crowing of a rooster will become the greatest gospel presentation they will ever hear.

To receive the Spirit of God, a deep destruction of self must first take place. In Peters case it was a complete and total forsaking of everything he said he believed, everything he taught, and everything he feigned love for. He was all self effort and zeal, and absolutely nothing in Him was actually following Jesus, it was all following his own curiosity and flesh.

But once the damage is done and everything you built is torn down, Jesus comes to you again and issues another "follow Me". Once your own foundations have been demolished and the building burned and cleared, a new cornerstone can be lain and a new foundation built, upon which the temple of God can be built and inhabited by Jesus Himself.

Just know that no matter what a man tells you, and no matter how vehemently anyone preaches to you that you can simply consecrate yourself, or yield, or surrender, or do anything to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it's in fact a lie. The crying need is for men to simply obey Jesus despite what happens and regardless of the outcome, watch their lives burn, and than trust Jesus to come out of the wreckage and issue the follow me. Because if you're house still stands, Gods house cannot be built.

Self and faith are vehement enemies, and one will always destroy the other, and the survivor will take the man.

"Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died"

Are you like Lazarus, or perhaps Thomas? Everyone loves to quote this story as a profound insight into the ways of Jesus following His Father, and so they are. But all to often, and not by accident I know now, we skip right over the next obscure mention, "So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Well put Thomas! This man could stand at just about any deeper life conference, "remnant" church pulpit, or in any modern publisher that is seeking for something of "higher" spiritual value and be the next great expositor of the spiritual life.

It's fascinating that a man can truly think self dies just that easily, with a simple act of the will. Everything in the self wills it's own existence, and any self effort towards dying to self will be signposted with every subtle detour to ensure that self lives on, completely unnoticed.

Thomas had such good intentions. He saw that the death of Lazarus was to be a conduit of faith for others, so what a gesture to also die, maybe even more would believe if more died than merely Lazarus. Thomas wanted to go be a zealous and good Christian, and didn't realize that Jesus wasn't kidding. Lazarus is dead.

In some ways Jesus killed Lazarus, when you look at it without a religious agenda. The centurion man knew that Jesus can perform any miracle without even being present, this faith exceeded even the sisters faith who piously told the Savior, "if you would have been here he wouldn't have died". But Jesus stayed put until Lazarus was not only dead, but dead 4 days. This 4 day death in Jewish culture meant life no longer even had a chance or returning, Lazarus wasn't just dead, "he stinketh", 4 days dead.

Jesus let this man, whom He loved, die and begin to rot in the tomb. Of course He had an agenda, but no one knew that even when they were told. Jesus not only let him die, but also let him lay dead so as to break Jewish traditions completely apart and in raising Lazarus, he proved His Godhood and lay waste to the religious ideas surrounding His actions. God will be God, unequivocally and unchallenged.

So many people are like Thomas, reveling in the death of other men and piously telling each other that they will go die too. But to be Lazarus is to be loved by Jesus, even though He just killed you. To be Lazarus is to be a stinking corpse that can walk out of a tomb and sit down at dinner with your family full of life and radiance, used of God for His deeper purposes.

Imagine sitting across from Lazarus at dinner. There is absolutely nothing anyone could tell you at that point that would make you doubt the savior. But even than, Thomas couldn't believe until he stuck his finger in Jesus wound and we all know Peters plight.

It's one thing to look upon one like Lazarus, it's quite another to wake up from death hearing your name called by the savior, and wonder why your in a grave wrapped in grave clothes. The only thing Lazarus did was succumb to nature and die, and than woke up hearing Jesus telling him to come outside. Life out of death, and the only purpose being the glory of God.

Thomas wanted to die, Lazarus was killed by Jesus. Piety recoils at this because piety is pretty and proper and is to timid and faithless to realize what even a roman centurion knew to be true. Jesus will kill those he loves, and let them rot to destroy any religious traditions, and than raise Him up for one purpose and one purpose only, the glory of His Father.

We all are faced with this because ultimately in Jesus divine purpose, discipleship is destruction.

"A still more excellent way"

The faith of Jesus Christ is a rubber on the road, not a head in the clouds faith. Jesus never once intimated that his disciples should seek after hyper spiritual experiences and gifts. Demons being cast out and the sick being healed can accompany the ministry of a disciple, but this is about the extent of what Jesus told them to expect.

Is this to say that men don't experience profound spiritual experiences? Absolutely not as the book of the Revelation is the product of one of these. This is to say however that there is a great danger in seeking the experience instead of the one from whence it comes.

The sad reality is that every experience except one can be faked, and that one that cannot is the new birth. The new birth cannot be faked because the new birth recreates the very life and person who experiences it. This isn't an experience that is some ethereal "angels descending and ascending", but rather a radical internal change that causes fisherman to burn their boats, tax collectors to leave their money behind, and holiness street preachers to forsake their religion and follow Jesus.

This destructive and creative experience in a man radically redefines his entire life and outlook, in every way. He sees God, Himself and other men differently. The world is a different world, his circumstances are completely different circumstances, and his friends are completely different friends, even though nothing but the man may have changed. The man begins to influence his world rather than the world influencing the man, because the man has become a vessel for the indwelling and living saviour of all men, Jesus Christ.

The more excellent way of a true disciple of Jesus is not a monastic and cloistered life of seeking visions and some ethereal higher calling, but a deeply devoted love for Jesus in the midst of his God ordained circumstances as Jesus His savior loves the world through Him, seeking to reconcile that world to Himself. Jesus sends a man into His world, and that world is no longer able to press him into its mold. It's love for Jesus and His creation right smack in the middle of enemy territory, where nothing is friendly and no matter what you do, you will never belong.

If you find yourself comfortable and behind your closet door seeking what God never intended the Christian life to be, look unto Jesus who walked in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation as a friend of sinners, publicans and thieves, being called a drunkard and glutton by religious men who couldn't understand why Jesus would sup with them, while all the time remaining in perfect fellowship and communion with His Father.

That my friends is true Christianity, and nothing less.

"that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you"

We have seen an upsurge of fasting in the professing church, which many would proclaim as a great victory and something to be applauded and praised. Interestingly this is exactly the point.

The point is we have seen it. The point is that while fasting is good, like always, the good is the enemy of the perfect. Jesus taught fasting and of course His teachings should be obeyed, but partial obedience is disobedience. While many are fasting, God is still silent, because the announcement of the fasting reaps it's reward from men, and not from the Father.

Jesus taught fasting, but He also taught doing it in secret. The disregard of one side of the commandment is to disregard both sides. While the church a is openly fasting they are also, in the fast, reaping it's rewards. They are gaining the applause of men and the rewards of looking spiritual to everyone around them, and this is their reward.

The proof of this lies in the corruption of our nation. With the hundred of thousands of people fasting for revival, where then is the revival?

Fasting is an act of humility before God to place us in a weakened physical state so the power of resurrection can show forth. We sow in weakness and reap in the glorification of God. But when the second clause of the teaching on fasting is not also obeyed, we sow in weakness and reap in corruption and the praise of men.

When you fast, do it in secret so men have absolutely no idea you are fasting, and God will reward you. Openly fasting before men is something religious and pious, but secretly fasting before God is something spiritual and faithful. When no one knows a thing but God Himself, He alone receives glory from it when the promise is fulfilled.

Be vigilant saints, many false teachers have gone out into the world preaching another Jesus, one that seeks the approval of men. We are fortunate to still have our Bibles, because there is a day approaching when we won't.

Hi dear brother,

Thank you for this post.

I too have pondered Jesus's teaching on fasting, and have come away with a similar perspective as you have shared here.

However, where I'm still perplexed is with respect to the passages where it is clear (to me) that multiple people fasted together.

For example, in Acts 13:1-3 we read about the church in Antioch, with several specific names of saints listed as worshiping the Lord and fasting. As best I can discern, this fasting was not being done in secret because at least Luke (the author of Acts?) knew about it?

Then again in Acts 14, elders were appointed with prayer and fasting, and again, the fasting sounds corporate and known to others.

Here are the passages:

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 14:23 "And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

I'm left with the following questions/thoughts:

1. Even though the scriptures record said events of corporate fasting, perhaps it was not right that their fasting was known among them? In other words, just because the Bible says it happened, and it sounds like the fasting resulted in blessings, it does not necessarily mean that corporate fasting is right? Because like you have well stated, Jesus taught them differently on the matter.
2. Or, perhaps Jesus was teaching ONLY about individual fasting, and not about corporate fasting? In other words, there is a place for corporate fasting in the church, and Acts is our evidence and teaching on that?
3. Another thought I had was that perhaps the people who were fasting as described in Acts DID keep it a secret, in other words, they did not tell anyone that they were fasting, but since the author knew them so intimately, they knew that they were fasting, without anyone telling them?

You asked an interesting question here:

With the hundred of thousands of people fasting for revival, where then is the revival?

Could it be that revival is happening, and either we are just not seeing it, or perhaps the revival is not taking a form that we expect?

Brother Caleb,

Keep in mind that the early church lived in close and intimate fellowship together. They had all things in common, many lived together or hosted each other. So if one was fasting, eventually it would be evident to someone at some point once they don't see them eat for a few days.

I believe that what we see to be corporate fasting is in fact the Holy Spirit leading His body in that place to all individually fast, and also one being led to fast along side when it is noticed others are fasting. The church and it's actions in the book of acts must always be filtered through the teachings of Jesus, so we must take it for granted they completely obeyed His teachings in these matters, and if they didn't, the clear teachings of Jesus are to be given more authority and the actions of the believer to be taken as incorrect and therefore written for that purpose.

Luke would have likely taken for granted the fasting in these instances, but even so, he was inspired to write as he did.

I think you're right on track brother, as your questions all kind of answer themselves when you get to the brass tacks of it. Praise God for unity in the Spirit.

Notice what we never see is a call to fast (something very different from the old testament fast, which sadly is the justification for the modern pharisaism), or believers standing in the middle of town (the modern equivalent would be using social media/internet) announcing their fasts and telling others to do it too.

And regarding what I said about revival, I am sure God is moving somewhere, He always is. The revival I mean is the one these types who fast in this way are looking for, and specifically in the United States, which is really just a soulish, religious version of mass hysteria when its really examined.

The US has no indication of true, wide spread revival anywhere. Possibly a mercy drop here and there, but nothing like what the true church of Jesus is seeking. I don't even like the term revival anymore, it seems anyone gets the term "revivalist" these days, as long as they say the right things and have a big enough church. I think what America needs is salvation, because you can't revive something that was never alive, and we are so far removed from the last move of God I don't see any life left in this country, and even what is being called life is just more selfish and soulish religion, just the charismatic version.

"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

We live in strange times. When we really sit down and analyze the state of your world, especially in the United States, it looks as we have it much easier than even the first century church. We are free to express our religious views and opinions with very little blow back in this country. We can post anything at anytime online and it can reach millions in the blink of an eye, all with very little accountability in the social spectrum.

I submit to you that this is in fact the crux of the issue in our nation, and the church is quickly falling right in line with the rampant narcissism our online culture has bred.

In our day and age you would think Jesus said "love yourself and than you will be able to love others". The leading philosophy of our day is still humanism, just as it was at the turn of the century, and was so eloquently exposed by Paris Reidhead. People considered to be something are telling millions of Christians that being kind to yourself is the key to overcoming insecurity. We are being told that in order to be mentally whole we have to accept ourselves as we are, because of course, God loves you just as you are.

The danger, and the reason this deception is so satanic is because it is so incredibly subtle. It is true God loved us while we were yet sinners. But praise Him He doesn't leave us sinners by His grace. He renews the mind, He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, He forms His Son in us by the Holy Spirit so we can walk even as He walked. He makes us new creatures in Christ so by His glorious grace, ALL things become new.

The fuel for this soulish and overwhelmingly satanic fire has become social media. Social media is not intrinsically sinful. Like many other things in the world, much depends on our usage of it. The issue becomes whether we are using it for God's purposes, or it is using us for Satans purposes.

Prayer and fasting is being completely gutted by the refusal to obey Jesus teachings of secrecy and walking before God corporately alone. We are called by Jesus to walk single eyed before the Father, in intimate and lonely communion with Him, right in the midst the world and in fellowship with other believers who are also doing the same thing. This corporate aloneness with God defined the early church, and is what fueled their single eyed passion for, and following of Jesus. Jesus is both personal and corporate; He indwells each believer and therefore becomes the head of a body of believers that are meant to display the wisdom of God to the spiritual powers that control this worlds systems. ALL that is in the world is at enmity with our Father, no exceptions.

The system of spiritual influence is what is often ignored by the professing church in our day. We all acknowledge that love of the world is hatred of God, but we falter when pressed on the matter. Does that mean blatant self interested pursuits, no matter where they are found and why, no matter the label, no matter the banner, and no matter what is said to be the motive, are hatred towards God. In a word, yes it does.

The chief end of social media for the majority of the upcoming generation, professing Christian or not, is self promotion. The influencer culture the world has created has permeated deep into the ministries that seek to reach those that are labeled "Gen Z", but it's not limited to that age group. Promoting fasting as a social endeavor, heralding good works and charity before men, and many other diabolical deceptions have denied the very one who purchased us with His blood.

Jesus call to self denial is as all consuming as the world systems call to self indulgence and self esteem. Jesus spoke the deepest call ever uttered to mankind to the masses, it was evangelistic in nature. The call to self denial is not a call merely to those who follow Him, because those that follow the crucified God are themselves on the cross. The world, which means in our present sense, much of the professing church, needs to hear this clarion call to the depths of the purposes of God for His church.

There is no excuse for us to ignore and disobey Jesus in any area of life. The absence of accountability to man that our culture has bred via social media and online culture has already permeated deeply into the methodology of the mainstream religion that calls itself Christian, and it has transcended accountability to each other and eradicated any sense of accountability to a holy God. Every man is doing what seems right in his own eyes.

The call still stands saints, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. What the world calls fanaticism Jesus calls love. If you love me, obey my commands. He Himself will grant the nature and will to do it, the power to perform it, the love for the cross that eradicates every iota of self love, and sheds the all consuming love of a God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Looking into Jesus we will gain salvation, and when salvation truly comes to our nation God will receive glory. This is a spiritual call that obliterates any reliance on soulish emotion, motivation, shallow erotic and sensual love and appeal, and calls us to the deeps.

We must, now more than ever, take up our crosses and follow the Savior deep into the purposes of God. The world and the powers look on and mock anything that is less than Jesus Himself walking in this world via His church. We are His body, His people, and His purchased possessions, never let anyone for any reason lead you to look to or follow anyone else, for any other reason than the absolute and perfect glory of God.

The call to deny yourself and take up your cross is a call to leave off any motivation other than Gods glory. You can never deny yourself if there is any hidden sins of self seeking within you. The cross will obliterate the self and bring life from death, and reveal every hidden motive and intent of the heart.

Jesus in His love and grace calls us out from the world to Himself, bids us die on a cross, so that He may reveal Himself in resurrection glory.

"Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

I'm beginning to realize more and more how narrow the narrow path actually is. As time marches on and the return of Jesus is draws nigh, it is incredibly important to be able to discern the signs of the times. Jesus would not have us ignorant of His truth, both in ourselves and in others, but we have to be very careful to stick solely to what Jesus teaches us, so as to avoid judging unrighteously. But discern we must, now more than ever.

It is no accident that Jesus attached the warning against false prophets to the sermon on the mount. The teaching of Jesus in these few chapters are more powerful than any other teaching in scripture, and they not only completely expose sin and hypocrisy, but give great hope and peace to those whom He has called to follow Him. Jesus promises us that these things shall be fulfilled in His disciples, simply by virtue of the fact the He is one who commanded them.

Jesus gives us a very clear vision of what we are to expect to see, and what constitutes this fruit. If many are heralding miracles, casting out devil's, even prophesying in Jesus name, as proof of their legitimacy even to the very Lord Himself, how much more will these men do the same to justify themselves before men. But Jesus makes it clear that these things can all be done without any actual knowledge of the Lord Himself, and without actually being known by Him. This doesn't mean that they are the works of the devil, as we run a fine line and are commanded of Jesus to not dabble in that area of judgment, but it will give us a clear picture of who to listen to, and who to trust in these last days.

As I said, the connection of this warning is not accidentally and coincidentally tied to this glorious sermon. So we can gather plainly that those who are in defiance to these teachings are in fact not known by God, no matter the grandiose works they do in His name. But beware brethren to not judge harshly, as even if they are not known of the Lord, they are still casting out devils, prophesying and healing, and we saw from the high priest of Jesus day that God will even use the unsaved as prophets, so long as they are not against us, we can rejoice. It falls on the church to make sure truth is preached and the truths of who Jesus is in purity are lifted up by our lives, and these men may seem to be doing harm, but they will be used in the greater purposes of God.

We can easily tell if we simply take the opposite of the teachings and examine what becomes plain.

Are the teachers storing up for themselves things on earth? Are they amassing wealth and things and looking to make their ministries, lives and the lives of those that hear them comfortable here in the world? Are they looking to fund million dollar buildings and heap to themselves money and influence?

Jesus uses money as an example because money is the driving force behind the world system. He doesn't accidentally say any of these things, where a mans treasure is, there is is heart also. And if his heart lies where his treasure is, that's a pretty plain thing to see. Jesus didn't spiritualize this teaching and make it about attachment, there is no context to make us think it was for a specific person or to be as an example as in the case of His telling the rich young ruler to sell all he had. Jesus said to the masses, if you lay up treasure on earth than your heart will be in earth, serving money, and you can't do that and serve God. You will either love the money and by extension the ways to get it and retain it, or you will love God.

When you see people amassing to themselves wealth, no matter what they say the motive is, no matter who they say it for, and no matter how noble they say the cause is, it's an automatic red flag. If a ministry cannot abide by the teachings of Jesus, than our Lord makes it clear what He thinks. These prophets will mind the things of the world and be constantly worried about tomorrow because if they aren't, than they can't appease the system that holds them up. They cannot serve two masters.

Jesus says after He warms us of the false prophets, and tell us what they claim to have done, that whoever hears these words of His and does them, they will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The key to discernment and knowledge is not intellectual pursuit or learning, but obedience to Jesus. To be wise, you have to obey Jesus so He can than make everything clear. It's astonishing how simple and clear everything becomes with a simple life of obedience to Jesus, no matter how fanatical it seems to everyone around you. The Father is faithful to provide daily bread, not help us amass wealth and money. He will be an ever present help for an ever present need, and will never place us in temptation to fall into the worlds ways of saving and worry, anxiety and looking to the future. He will hide us under the shadow of His wings and be a refuge to His people.

The warning against the false prophets and Jesus telling us to look to their fruits is Jesus telling us to compare these men, and ourselves with the teachings of the sermon on the mount. Simple and sincere obedience to Jesus is the dividing line between truth and lies, and the life of Jesus in His people is the only way for anyone to fulfill these commands, and when Christ is formed in a person, and he walks in single eyed obedience to Jesus, he shall therefore be perfect, as His heavenly Father is perfect. Not a man striving to be something, but a man indwelt by Jesus expressing someone. Not a human trying to be sinless or holy, but a human containing Jesus Himself.

If we find then, that we see false prophets performing miracles, casting out devils, or doing great wonders, and are preaching a false message, just leave them to it and God will use them for His purposes and eventually they will get their just desert. It falls on His church to pick up the pieces of the disillusioned and broken people they leave in their wakes. Those who have devils cast out only to find 7 more in their place. Those who see this as a representation of the true Jesus and throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater when they inevitably find it to be false. Man in his own self effort will do no good. Those who walk in the spirit must be ready to, in God's perfect timing and will, be Christ to those broken souls.

"But when you pray"

Jesus often contrasts His disciples with the religious figures of His day. Contrasts that are blazing with accusation and that call His followers to the very cross. Jesus has absolutely nothing good to say about those that are part of the religious world system. He calls them hypocrites, vipers, white washed tombs. Jesus is not one to leave anyone comfortable in a religious state that is content to simply allow the status quo to abide.

Do you desire to be known as a praying man/woman? Than Jesus speaks of you when He says hypocrites pray on the street corner to be seen of men. A disciple is one that seeks His reward from God alone, even at the expense of seeming to be a prayerless religious person. Prayer that is seen of men, known of men, is fruitless and will never yield answer. Prayer, like fasting, isn't a religious performance, it's an exercise of faith, and if it is seen and known of men than that is it's reward.

Prayer isn't dependant on earnestness, tears, or working up anything at all. Prayer is dependant on the finished work of Jesus, and our childlike attitude of complete helplessness and dependance on the Father. Prayer that works up tears and emotion is prayer of the soul, and soul cannot carry anything to heaven but the stink of human flesh. This type of prayer is to be a spectacle to men just like the street corner, except this time the observer is ourselves. We love to sit back and say to ourselves that we had a wonderful time of prayer, and all that because we shed a tear or had some other soulish response to the act.

Prayer that prevails is prayer of faith, to the Father, in the Spirit predicated only on the redemptive work of Jesus. The second we add anything else, prayer falls to the death blow of self effort. Are tears wrong? Is earnestness wrong? Yes, if they are there for the sake of them. Jesus didn't work up His tears, He grieved. We men seek to work them up so we can say we weep for souls, and all the time Jesus weeps for you.

Man is so caught up in the show of it all that the God of it all is completely forgotten. Prayer is to be directed to God, and if we were to approach God in prayer I think our praying would be completely other than it is. So the question is begged, are you praying to yourself and for yourself and other men, or are you praying in obedience to Jesus and as He tells us to pray?

"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day."

A God who feels...

In our day we have a God of influence, gasoline in the engine of our ministries and anointing for our preaching. The living God has been reduced to something that can be called down on gatherings of revelry and commanded to move when we tell it and where.

This day and age God is simply some ethereal force called "the presence of God" that makes us feel warm and fuzzy, peaceful or joyous, and like a Mormon missionary, burns in our bosom when we are looking for truth.

The deep irony is that the people who most heartily promote this fleshly charade are the same people that most heartily preach the personhood of the Holy Spirit. But to them He is an anointing to sell the book, a boon of blessings for a backslidden age of apostasy.

A God who feels...

Our God is a God that feels deeply and loves much. He is indignant because He loves. We often reduce our offenses to God as meaning our sinfulness, but we offend God in taking advantage of His mercy, grace, patience and love, and in using Him for our means and ends.

We have taken our loving Father for granted, and assumed His blessing and pleasure over whatever we do, simply because it is we that do it. The farther we stray in this path of self centered egotism, the harder our hearts will become. God is grieved deeply and sorrows for the state of His creation, and looks to those who should be heralding Him, but they have forgotten Him in entitlement and selfish religion.

The Father will allow Himself to be used, bear our reproach, and be patient in the giving because He desires all men to come to repentance. He seeks for His creation to look to Him and love Him, and love is patient. Our Father is a God who feels, deeply and passionately, and we in our pride take advantage of Him and seek to use Him as nothing more than a means to our end.

Sinfulness is manifest most profoundly in selfishness, and it's the subtleties that make the difference. The only place selfishness is ignored is the spiritual life, which is why it is so rampant there. Taking advantage of a loving Father for our own blessing, ends, goals, and to make us feel or be certain ways is detestable spiritual selfishness.

May we see that God is a God who feels, and may we love that God to the utter exclusion of ourselves, especially spiritually. May we Love God for the sake of Him, and How He feels, and forget totally about self in the process.

Our God is a God who feels indignation every day, and the time will soon come when judgment will fall and the false prophets, false religion they have set up, and the selfishness they have heralded as holiness will be rolled over and shaken from the earth.

Come quickly Lord Jesus and vindicate your bride.

"But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matt. 6:33)

This text has been used for hundreds of years to express the faithfulness of God in Christ. And that it is. Our Father will, and does indeed add to us every necessity of life as we walk with Him. His mercy, faithfulness and provision is beyond our comprehension. But what this generation fails to understand is the depths to which this promise calls us.

Our Father (I write to the born again believers, for only they can call God their Father) is patient, not desiring any to perish, but that all should come to repentance. His patience has been extended far more to this generation of humanity than possibly any other in the history of the world. I include in this the generation of professing christians we see living today. I say "professing" completely on purpose, because Jesus said explicitly that not all who profess His name, nor do works for His cause, whether miraculous or not, will enter that final kingdom of heaven. He will turn them around with the seering and painful declaration, "I never knew you". Jesus takes vanity and the pride of man personally, because it is this that causes men to walk with a trust in their own self sufficiency.

Seek first is a declaration of priority. But this declaration of priority can to easily become a legalistic religious dogma that does more harm than good.

The fallacy of time spent is the favorite condemnation of believers, and has been throughout the years. It is somehow accepted to teach that the amount of time one spends doing "holy" things like prayer, Bible reading, etc. somehow is a metric to determine a persons inner spiritual health.

With that in mind, what of sleeping than? Shall we cry idolatry if a man spends more time sleeping than he does in active, kneeling prayer? Or for most of us that live the real Christian life, and not the ivory tower kind, what are we to say of employment? Many, or most of us are, in God's will and ordered circumstances, enabled and led to work with our hands to provide for our families or to avoid taking money from others, as Paul did. Are those dear children of God who walk with Him daily, working a job, idolaters simply because they spend more time in that employment than what carnal man deems "the employment of the Lord"?

Perhaps you see the line of reasoning here already, and no more illustration is necessary. It's a sad day when the Jesus who spent 30 years as a carpenter is heralded to men as the same Jesus that will condemn someone for spending more time working in their employment than in a prayer closet.

First is a statement of priority, not a statement of time spent. When reading biographical accounts of Christians who God used mightily in a public way, it's easy to overlook they were in prayer while working in coal mines, standing in lines within Nazi concentration camps, and many other and varied forms of life that don't fit the religious mans views of what Christianity should look like. If your Jesus doesn't live within you, and animate your every breath and your entire life, than you are reduced to the religious cliche of "take time to be holy", and you will find you only find God's presence in religious forms (certain forms of prayer, Bible reading, religious services, etc). There is no time to be holy, because holiness is a separation of everything to God, not certain times and forms, days of the week or gatherings. The lack of power and spiritual influence in our day is possibly rooted in this one thing. So few people know God, and therefore they do not walk with Him, in His conscious presence and living every moment in communion with Him, and consequently they are forced to reduce the Christian life to fit their meager experience, rather than admit they might have it wrong, and repent in sack cloth and ashes.

This Christianity that finds it's life in a succession of Sunday services and prayer meetings is nothing new, it's ancient, dating clear back to Israel seeking to be like the world around them. God gave them what they desired, Tabernacles, kings, judges, laws, rules, so they could realize they were incapable of "taking time to be holy". In the fullness of time God revealed Himself and His way of living so completely in Jesus that all we need to look to is Him and His life to see what is possible for every believer. Jesus said as much, in fact said we would do "greater" works. We are dust and saved sinners who are empowered to live and walk as Jesus did, in daily communion with his Father. This is a greater work indeed.

Seeking 'first' is, in the mind of Jesus, seeking 'only'. It's only when we realize that their is no priorities in the kingdom of God, that we begin to see the depths and truly revolutionary truth of Jesus and His kingdom. It is all or nothing, every moment or none, all things belonging to Jesus or we don't belong to Jesus. Total dependance on the Father, consciously walking in His presence moment by moment in full communion with Him, truly prayer without ceasing.

Do we seek devotional time alone with God? Of course. Do we base our spiritual life on it? Some do, and preach that. But to these carnal men the devotional time, not Christ, is their life. The Christian life is better said to be the life of Jesus in His people. Prayer is better said to be allowing the Son of God within you to commune with His Father. Devotion is a life lived, not a time set aside. If Christ is in you, let Him express Himself however He desires, because that is rest, that is holiness, and that is to seek first the kingdom of God.

"...because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)

It's no surprise that the shallowest generation in the history of mankind has taken even the holiest things and trampled them under their feet. It's true there are pigs in the pasture, and it's equally true that the pearls of God's truth are in this day and age, pearls before pigs. But just as God can fit a camel through a needles eye, He too can make pigs appreciate the depths of His riches, I am proof of this.

Intercession has been lowered to nothing more than soulish prayer that works up a few tears, prayer that is said a little more loudly or fervently, and somehow gains insight or answer based on some gift of intercessory prayer. Prayer in these days is not the sacred act of faith it once was, it's no longer secret devotion to the Father that gets obvious answers. Prayer is a public piety that boasts in gifts before men, gets online and meets together to publicly share it's burdens. Thousands of self proclaimed "intercessors" gather on the street corners of social media and seek to bolster each other's egos and solidify the religious practices as devotion to God.

But I question this entire charade. I question this definition of intercession; and I propose to you that this religious movement desecrates the Holy office best exemplified by our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Intercession is not prayer, although it does include it. But like most things in this generation, words have been redefined to make them more palatable and easy. Intercession has been reduced to something you can do in a prayer meeting, and completely lost it's meaning and power. Once again, Satan has snuck in a good thing and professing church has eaten it up and completely forsaken God's perfect will. Once again, the good is the enemy of the perfect.

Jesus is the pattern of intercession. The proponents of this new form of intercession will boysterously shout Amen and point to Gethsemane. True, that was intercession... but that only part of it. That agony of prayer was born out of intercession, it wasn't the intercession itself. Jesus never made an intercessory prayer, He made intercession.

I've searched the scriptures for this new form of intercession and have come up empty handed. I have found intercession in scripture that pours out it's life, even unto death, in obedience to the Father. I have found Moses putting himself between a rebellious Israel and it's God, who was ready to pour out His wrath upon them, and emphatically stating his desire to himself be blotted from the book of life, if God would only stay His hand. I have found the apostolic messenger to the Gentiles wishing himself accursed from Christ for his brethren according to the flesh, Israel. I have found Jesus, seeking only His Fathers glory, crucified and bleeding on a cross in obedience.

Jesus gained the place of intercession He now stands in through the obedience of being numbered with the transgressors, and bearing their sin.

An intercessor is a man who will bear upon himself the reproach of the subject of his prayer. He will bear the burdens the one he prays for bears; he will sacrifice comfort and health to obey the Holy Spirit and make sure that the immediate will of God is carried out, and through that out poured life of obeying, intercession is made, and the intercessor has power in prayer for that person or thing.

Intercession is made, not prayed.

God seeks for a people that are not interested in ease and comfort, or taking the holiest things in scripture and rendering them completely void of meaning and power. God seeks for a man to himself take the load, under the power of Christ in him, and deny himself as Jesus did, even unto death. Bearing the burdens and numbering himself among those for whom he prays, practically in daily experience.

This generation is all about the big thing. Self proclaimed intercessors today pray for world sweeping revival, and have never even born the reproach of being numbered among the sinners in their very own city. They look for a move of God across the world, and yet the hungry in their town are not fed, the fatherless know nothing of familial love, the widows are forsaken, and their neighbors have no point of reference for the power of the Holy Spirit. They want God to move somewhere else, because if the Holy Spirit were to move in their city or family, they might have to sacrifice more than they are comfortable with, and we can't have that.

If God wanted you to intercede for Africa, He would have put you in Africa.

Intercession starts where we are, in the circumstances God has ordained and orchestrated for each of us. The problem is, living for God is hardest in our hometown, because man wants honor from other men, and a prophet is without honor in his own country. It's easy when no one sees you unless you want them to, much harder when you are seen daily, even hourly, of those you intercede on behalf of.

The Holy Spirit seeks a church that will humble themselves under His mighty power right where they are, and intercede for those they have been placed in the midst of. Because intercession is a life of bearing the load of others in practical obedience to the Father, so that Jesus might reconcile the world to Himself through us.

Intercession is a life, not a prayer.

"And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.” (Genesis 15:11)

Vultures always circle death. The vulture can see for literal miles, and smell even further. It is said a vulture can sense the imminence of death, and will often circle an animal before it dies, in expectation of its next meal.

These foul creatures came to feast on the carcasses of Abrams sacrifice to God. They sensed the death and came to take advantage of it - but Abram drove them away. They sought to defile Abrams act of obedience; they saw opportunity in it for themselves, a chance to fill their bellies and satiate their own appetites.

Abram drove them away and in his ensuing sleep was overtaken by a great darkness. But from this darkness a great and enduring promise was given to him from God.

How often this is the case. A simple act of obedience and out of the woodwork comes opportunistic opposition, both spiritually and fleshly. Men denounce the obedient disciples of Jesus as troublemakers; bringers of strife and division. Satans powers come full force against the simple one who merely looks to his Lord and does what He says, with no question or explanation. To men and the powers of Satan, obedience is the ultimate offense. But to Jesus, obedience is supreme act of love.

If you find yourself confused under brass heavens, feeling as if your prayers are hindered and plagued by a vague sense of oppression that leaves you questioning things you once held as self evident, don't be dismayed - out of this darkness great promises come. Sometimes, like Lazarus, Jesus stays where He is for a few days for the stink of death to fully settle in, so that when the promise is fulfilled the glory can only be given to the Father.

Jesus will let the one He loves die, and the death will lead to the glory of God in resurrection.

Be like Abram, and drive the vultures away. Don't let anyone take opportunity to feast on your obedience to your Lord. If you find yourself in darkness, hold fast to Jesus and continue on because He is worthy, not because you find anything in it for yourself. If you can look away from your past, and present experience, feelings, and avoid the incessant desire to examine your every thought and deed, and cling to Jesus in faith, the voice of the Lord will come in glorious promise and fulfillment.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15)

Much is said these days concerning God the Holy Spirit. But in much speaking, error is not wanting. I find great comfort in the words of Jesus concerning the ministry and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers - and these words and teachings run in stark and glaring opposition to much of what is taught in the modern professing church.

The modern preacher would glorify the Holy Spirit in his sermon. He would have us believe that we are to set chairs in our rooms and invite the Holy Spirit to sit and share our devotional times. Is it any wonder why the internal leading of the Spirit of Truth is almost altogether absent these days - the Spirit of God is politely sitting in the chair waiting to perform His selfless ministry of the glorifying of Jesus.

When a man encounters the Holy Spirit, self is destroyed and sent to the cross of Jesus to die with Him there - and the Spirit of life waits for this identification and death to quicken us to newness of resurrection life. The Spirit of Truth is also the Spirit of life and resurrection - the Spirit of Christ.

It would seem to me a simple fact that the Holy Spirit is not a hypocrite. He leads men to deny themselves and take up their cross with Jesus. This truth is clearly taught by our Lord. The Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus - quietly like a dove.

The self denial of the Godhead is always seen best in the work of Jesus on the cross. I submit to you that the ministry of the Holy Spirit also shines forth as a brilliant example of the humility and selflessness of God. The Spirit comes to a man and glorifies Jesus the Son and convicts men of sin, righteousness and judgment; nowhere speaking of Himself or leading men anywhere other than the person of Jesus by the order of the Father.

I see no scriptural precedent to prayer TO the Holy Spirit, only IN the Spirit. Is this wrong? Not at all. But the divine order of God is not this way, and we will find ourselves in error very quickly when we substitute or own good intentions for the perfect will of God, no matter how sentimental we would like to be.

There is much more to be said concerning this topic, and perhaps I will say more later. But for now, see what the Holy Spirit wants us to see, and not what men sentimentally and emotionally teach you that you should see.

Simply stated, Jesus.

"We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” (Romans 6:6-9)

Much is said these days about forgiveness. In fact, for decades the salvation of Jesus Christ has been peddled to generations of people as exactly that - forgiveness of sins. The outward acts that even many in the world look down upon as heinous acts are what is said to be forgiven us by the cross of Jesus. Moral fortitude and ascetic discipline are enough to refrain from these outward acts, and any religion the world offers a man can in some way morally reform it's adherants. This is not the salvation of Jesus.

If Jesus died so we can be forgiven, the cross is simply a bloody motivational speech - a self help book written with the blood of a martyr. There are systematic theologies written to try and dupe men to believe that the cross is an example, a motivation to lead people to acts of self giving and martyrdom for the hero they worship - another Jesus that lived a good life and was crucified to show us that what love looks like, so we can go and do likewise.

Others have written another story in their volumes. They portray for us a wrathful god, jealous for his rule and law, that was so bound by vengeance and spite, needing so badly to vent his anger against sin that the gospel is boiled down to this one thing - God appeasing his anger on Jesus. The cross is mettled down into an anger management class for deity, nothing less than what the pagan religions postulate for us with their own human sacrifices.

Many and various forms of the gospel have been handed down from father to son, but only one is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the culmination of a cosmic struggle against sin and the usurper that brought it into the world - Satan himself. "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

The garden was the scene for the ultimate usurping of the creation of God. The serpent beguiled man with the question, "has God really said". Satan brought the mentality of unbelief into creation - reinterpreting the clear commands of God and placing ourselves in the place of judge - has God really said? They knew God commanded to eat anything but that one trees fruit - but it was pleasing to eyes, good for food, so obviously God didn't mean what He said - surely He wouldn't want man to be deprived of this glorious fruit; and in deification of their own standard they ate of tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Man became like God, knowing good and evil - and ever since has sought to reinterpret the clear teachings of Jesus to fit his own petty life and moral standards - all under the guise of teaching Jesus would never command something we couldn't do, and if He did, He didn't really mean it than; "has God really said?".

Self is the supreme manifestation of sinful humanity. God created man in His own image, and because man was deceived, he in turn has created God in his own image for thousands of years. Man in his unregenerate state will always look for a god that fits into his own view of what a god should be - and consequently hates the one true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God as He has revealed Himself is the object of man's hatred, because man knows good from evil, and thinks he knows best. Self becomes god, and self is a cruel and deceptive task master.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ is first and foremost a destruction of all that Satan has perpetuated as truth throughout the history of mankind. The greatest of these deceptions is the service of, and the deification of self.

The cross of Christ was the place where sin was dealt with in an ultimate fashion. Jesus became sin, procuring the forgiveness of sins, by fulfilling the justice of God - bearing upon Himself the chastisement that brought us peace. But more than this, His death was the death of sin. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25) "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

When a man comes to Jesus he doesn't just give mental ascent to a formula - he identifies himself with a Person. The gospel of Jesus is not a systematic theology, it is the reality of God in the flesh bearing away our sin and purchasing us with His own blood on the cross. Man sinned, therefore man must die. God therefore became a man, so that just as sin entered the race by Adam, it might leave the new race by the last Adam.

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-47)

Death can be said to be a cessation of communication with our environment. When a man dies physically, his body loses all communication with his physical environment - he no longer breathes, sees, feels, tastes... He is dead. In the same way, when a man is dead spiritually he has no communication with the realm of spirit - and God is a spirit. Man is cut off from God through Adam, and made alive again through Jesus. Not only does physical death lose it's power through the resurrection of Jesus, spiritual death too loses it's power. This is the glory of the true gospel of Jesus - dead humanity given the option to receive life again.

For the new man to live the old man must die. This is the message - we identify ourselves with Jesus and all that He did to procure our redemption by faith. We, by faith alone, look to Jesus and His truth - that the cross upon which He died slays the old man of sin and death. We, by faith alone, look to Jesus now because not only did He die to settle our debts and kill in us the old self, He is risen and in Him, we rise to newness of life. We are quickened to spiritual life again and made alive to God.

He shed His blood to purchase us as His own possessions - and what a price. The very blood of God was used to ransom us from the enemy. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) What precious price.

Hear the words of the apostle: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:28-31)

If this is true, tha what exactly did our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, shed his blood to purchase? To what purpose are we quickened to newness of life? When a dead man lives, does he resemble the death from which he was risen any longer?

We have died to law, and therefore died to sin. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2)

I believe wholeheartedly in the second, definite work of sanctification where a man is entirely set aside and filled with the Holy Spirit of Jesus - but just as whole heartedly I decry that this second work of entire sanctification is what sets a man free from the ruling power of sin. This is done when a man becomes a new creature. The new birth makes a man new, sanctification sets that new man aside for holy use - forms the fulness of the risen Lord within him by the Holy Spirit (this is another teaching altogether).

The sovereign grace of God recreates a man and this is what sets him free from sin, washes him, destroys the old man, and gains for him forgiveness through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. That cross of Jesus - the glorious and bloody, violent death of Jesus, and us with Him.

Repentance is granted to the man that he might bear fruit meet for it - but this to, only as he abides in His savior. Jesus is the glorious and perfect redeemer, and woe unto the man that says His salvation is anything less than perfect and to the uttermost and innermost of all those that come to Him by faith.

Jesus is victorious over death, sin, Satan, and the self of those that repent and believe. Salvation is much more than forgiveness - it brings a man into the Savior He believes, identified with Him through faith. Salvation brings a man to life, life with God. Eternal life is life indeed, and its sole end is knowing the risen Jesus and living in unbroken fellowship and communion with Him.

Jesus is the living mediator - and waits for any and all who will come to Him and be placed in His death, and His resurrection, so that they may live unto God in newness of resurrection life.

A bit of encouragement, I enjoy reading these! May our Lord's Spirit keep leading you, and may His Divine love be brought forth as a mighty, flooding, massive stream within and through you! To His people and those lost that know Him not around your area brother.

"What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (Romans 4:1-12; ESV)

To begin at Romans 6, as most second blessing teachers do (myself included) is to miss possibly the most profound gospel revelation ever given to man - righteousness by faith.

The argument is always that the Holy Spirit will not be given to someone who is unrighteous, and this is a true argument. However, the righteousness is then always said to be after a purging of sin, sins, self, or some act of the will (whether it be absolute surrender, total consecration, you choose the name - it's everywhere) but this only makes sense when you begin the gospel at identification in Romans 6. While the glorious truths of identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus are foundational to rightly understanding redemption, they are not the starting point for God.

God starts at the declaration of the sinfulness of humanity, "as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” "The venom of asps is under their lips.” "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” "There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” (Romans 3:10-19; ESV)

If we start here, at the legal declaration of mans actual disobedience and active unrighteousness, the entirety of the holiness message gets sort of discombobulated. There is actual trespasses to deal with, not merely the inherited disposition through Adam. We inherit an unnatural knowledge of good and evil, the curses declared when the first Adam ate of the tree - and as a result man sins actively and raises the proverbial fist to heaven in hatred of God as He has revealed Himself.

This, is the starting block for the race we all run.

Here is where I will most likely be inventing terminology, because I am not reading anything except scripture at this point to develop my understanding of Romans - so bear with me.

Before a man can even approach God, there is a declaration to be made - a declarative righteousness as it were. The law requires blood to be shed. "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission". The unrighteousness of man requires that God provide a way of approach, because man cannot purge Himself of sins, and if left to his own devices and a purging act of the will, he falls to the wayside in self righteousness.

The law is acts as our school master, a teacher of sinfulness and disobedience - and it's lesson is the total and full wickedness of every man born of Adam - not just by disposition, but by actual rebellion and sin.

Since this is true, righteousness cannot come by law. Despite the fact no man can claim actual innocence before God due to transgression of His law, man is also predisposed to self exaltation due to the sin of our federal head, Adam. The solution for this is built out in subsequent chapters of Romans.

Abraham was accounted righteous when he believed the promise of God - his faith was accounted to Him as righteousness. Circumcision was given as a sign of this faith, the manifestation that Abraham was in fact the father of the faithful. Abraham represented the righteousness of faith, and the joining of Jew and Gentile in that righteousness - a declaration made by God that the flesh is insignificant - and they that are truly righteous are they that walk by faith.

This foundational and clear truth is trampled underfoot by generations of people who claim that in order to come to God we must be righteous before we make the approach. "God commended His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners" " Christ died for the ungodly". It's this merciful declaration is the entryway for any and all who seek to come.

The flesh avails nothing, and circumcision, or in our fully signposted and revealed way, the seal of the Holy Spirit, comes when a man is declared righteous by the shed blood of Jesus.

This declaration can only be made when a man trusts in the Lamb slain from the very foundation of the world - the great and glorious provision of everyone from Adam to you and I in our day - and the only door through which any man who has ever lived can approach God and be given entry into the narrow path of walking by the Spirit that seals and proves the righteousness of God.

Jesus is the door of the sheep - and faith in His finished work is the way - and the more God reveals to me the depths of modern deception - the more I reakize that this life of faith in the Spirit is in fact the narrowest of the narrow ways, and men miss it for the conscience pacifying way of self righteousness on the right and the left hand.

The fleshly and self righteous rest in their circumcision, the works of the law and their own self effort, rather than Faith in the provision for a sinful man to be declared righteous - the shed blood of Jesus for the sealing of the covenant of grace.

When Abraham was declared righteous by faith, he was sealed with circumcision. When Jews today rest in their circumcision they fail to attain righteousness because it is by faith in Jesus a man is declared righteous.

When we are declared righteous, we are sealed with the Spirit of promise and entered into the path of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When the unregenerate focus on spiritual experiences and rest in those, they will find themselves having many experiences, but of a different spirit. The declaration by faith must precede the sealing - but in our case, their is no chronology here - the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts when we rest in faith in the shed blood of Jesus, the glorious and victorious, living lamb of God.

"And Cain...built a city" (Genesis 4:17)

This is the first manifestation of any form of organized civilization. The depth of this statement, and it's implications are as far reaching as the fall of man. This, the first city, was built by the very one against whom Abel's blood cries out. The ground upon which this cities foundation were laid opened up to receive the blood of the victim of the cities founder. Cain gives us the first manifestation of the world system - built by the first and most infamous murderer in the history of our race.

This city is the foundation of the world system - all of which is enmity against God. It gives us an insight into the nature of the world system and also an insight into why Jesus would emphasize that hatred is murder. Cain hated Abel because his deeds were righteous, and his own were evil. This hatred runs deep in the very nature of the fallen world system - from its competitive and rivalry based mentality, clear down to the pure hatred it has for the life of God and it's manifestation in, and birth into God's people. The world cannot bear with Jesus, or the disciples of Jesus, because within them is the very seed of God, the incorruptible Son formed in them and the manifestation of it as they walk in the Spirit. The persecution of the righteous dates back to this original rivalry, and the first city on earth is the catalyst for its organized and systematized hatred.

It's a deep irony that the city was named for Enoch - one of whom we know so little. What we do know if this man is that he walked with His God, pleased Him, and then was no more. The namesake of the city was one who walked with God, and the founder of it was one who threw accusations at God of injustice and being to holy and to harsh with his justice. The city founded by a murderer was inhabited by one who walked with God, even named for him.

The usurper has taken the world and twisted it until its sole manifestation is hatred for the creator. The namesake of the city is shown forth as one taken up from it, and the ruler as no doubt it's spiritual opposite. This world cannot be reformed and made better, it's foundations are murder, and it's built upon the blood of the righteous.

In our day and age there exists movements of men claiming to work for God, while all the while seeking to repurpose the fallen world and it's murderous hatred of Jesus into something that they claim will bring glory to the very one it hates with vitriolic spite. All that is in the world, part and parcel, is hatred of God - and we are called to come out from the system and like Enoch, walk with God until we are taken from it. This world will not endure - and any investment into it is akin to placing your money into a bank that has announced its closure - there will be no security and no return, thieves will break in, moth and rust will decay, and if your heart lies in the world, it too will be burned with white heat as the new earth takes it's place.

The hope we share is the hope of the soon coming kingdom of God on earth, and it's kings second advent to resurrect the righteous dead into incorruptible eternity where the murder and hated will have no effect any longer. Any effort put into a reformation of this satanic system is to work against the will of God, and add to the groans of creation as it waits for the manifestation of the sons of God in final glory.

Walk as Enoch walked, as a pleasure to the Father and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that one day we to can be no more, yet evermore with Jesus, the shepherd and bishop of our souls.

"Look at the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26)

"Consider the lilies of the field” (Matthew 6:28-29)

"That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.” (Matthew 13:1)

It's always striking to me that modern Christianity is so focused on the big thing, revivals, huge crowds, world sweeping movements, and yet Jesus issues us commands like these.

These commands are the most stringent commands our Lord could give us, especially in this purpose driven world that relishes in accomplishment and success.

I've been struck for a few months now at what the Holy Spirit quickens to me from the Bible, and transversely what He makes dead letter. These scriptures have been life to me, because they show me the character of God in ways I find just as profound as the scriptures that speak of the grandiose visions of the throne room, or those that drive men of old to the dirt in worship.

Our God is an every day God, if I can be irreverent. We see Jesus, after His resurrection, having breakfast on the shore with His forlorn and scattered disciples. We see Him sitting on the beach and being overtaken by a crowd as He no doubt beheld His Fathers glory in creation.

Our Lords yoke is the yoke of a bird watcher, and commands us to, literally, stop and smell the flowers.

It's hard to explain the reason these glimpses of Jesus, and these little spoken of commands bring me such joy, peace and comfort. Maybe it's because it shows us that Jesus too isn't worried about accomplishment and crowds, success or the amount of things we are doing for His kingdom (a kingdom that will advance with or without you and I).

Maybe it's because this shows me that Jesus communes with His disciples in the things the world would look upon as a waste of time, and a frittering away of the possibilities that each day holds.

If we are to abide in Jesus we are to obey His commandments, and what glorious commands these are. Jesus will fellowship with His followers in the watching of birds, the observation of the wind in a flower, the simple looking to Him in the glory of the creation that glorifies Him, and exists for Him.

In obedience is abiding, and in abiding is obedience, and from this we bear fruit - and the fruit that is valuable to God looks nothing like the fruit the religious systems of the world would have us measure ourselves by.