DIVINE REVELATION

Into the Same Image

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Ephesians 4:22-24. …. that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old  self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Galatians 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.”

How easy it is for a new believer to embrace with great joy the glorious experience of being brought out of darkness into the glorious light of Jesus, yet thereafter to neglect being brought into the fullness of the kingdom of our Father’s beloved Son. How easy it is to rest in the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us and to overlook what we are privileged to do and to be for Him. How easy it is to satisfy the desires of the old self at the expense of bringing joy to our Father in heaven by putting on the new self ‘which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth’.

Satan is not done with those who are brought out of his impenetrable darkness but rather he concentrates on keeping as much of this darkness in the human consciousness. He convinces many a new believer that holiness can be overdone. It is not what we gladly renounce when we come to Jesus it is what we allow to remain. In fact the biggest barrier to transformation into the likeness of Jesus is our self-life which now desires to do good things and eliminate or reduce the bad things. Symphonies may take the place of rock concerts, yet both may offer competing satisfaction with Jesus. The real question remains, is attendance at the symphony (or indeed the rock concert) within God’s plan for our life? The new self chooses only to do the will of God. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

The Earth is the Lord’s

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Matthew 18:18. “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Satan must be bound on earth so that he will have been bound in heaven. Then only can he be bound for a thousand years at the return of Jesus.

Revelation 12:3-5. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Satan, the great red dragon, waits to devour the child of the woman as soon as he is born. However, the male child is composed of those who have bound him on earth. Thus Satan cannot touch this child and he is caught up immediately to heaven. God now has what He desired from the time of man’s creation, a representative from the human race who has overcome Satan and stood in the victory that Jesus obtained through His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. Now God directs Michael the archangel and his angels to cast Satan and his angels out of heaven. Satan, the accuser, is cast down to the earth where he gives his power and authority to the beast and the false prophet and the great tribulation of three and a half years begins.

Revelation 11:15. Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” At the sound of the seventh trumpet the great tribulation is instantly at its end and the feet of Jesus stand once again on the Mount of Olives. read more

ENDURANCE

It is God Who is at Work in You

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Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
James 2:18-20. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Hebrews 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

The instant an individual turns to the Lord in repentance and faith then that one is born again of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit comes into our human spirit and the two are joined as one forever. John 3:6. However, whether the Holy Spirit is Lord will be demonstrated by the willingness of each individual to allow Him to be in complete control. The apostle Paul reminds us of what the Lord expects of every one of us. He states, ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’.

The third member of the Holy Trinity has become resident in us to perform the perfecting work of God. The part that each believer in the Lord Jesus must play is to assent to the work of the Holy Spirit to transform the soul into the exact likeness of Jesus. This is accomplished through a day by day and hour by hour conscious yielding of our will to the will of God. “Thy will be done, not mine!” It is God’s good pleasure that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

My Mother and My Brothers

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Matthew 12:47-50. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
John 7:3-5. Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. “For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
Luke 14:26-27. “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.  “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Galatians 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.”

‘Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” The pressure of family to be given first consideration by individuals in our western society is particularly evident at Christmas time. It seems to be a cultural imperative. The homes of believers are often invaded at this season of the year by an odd assortment of voices, opinions and beliefs – all waiting to be heard.

The matter of first importance is who is the focal point inside our home? Even if we are the one who invited this company of family members, whose authority and significance will be evident? Human or divine? read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

That They May All be One

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John 17:20-21. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

When we place ourselves in a special category and we look upon others as outside of that category then we create distance between ourselves and them. For instance, as believers in Jesus who have been baptized according to the Scriptures by immersion we may feel that those who also believe in Jesus but were simply baptized as babies are lacking in obedience to the Lord. There can be no real fellowship between us and them because we have deliberately set ourselves apart. The so-called Pentecostal experience is perhaps an even more prevalent example of what may cause separation.

Everyone in whom resides the Holy Spirit of God is my brother in Christ. To live that out is to experience the true and real body life that Jesus died to bring about and maintain forever. The ultimate expression of this eternal truth is ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb’ in whom all who love the Lord Jesus will participate. If through His death and resurrection this unity is a fact now, why should we wait to experience and enjoy it only in the life hereafter? read more

ENDURANCE

The Bread of Life

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Matthew 4:3-4. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'”
Exodus 16:13-14. So it came about at evening that the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
John 6:31-33. “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.”
Psalms 23:5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
John 12:24. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

From ancient times bread has been identified as the basic food to preserve life. It is certainly considered as such in the Scriptures. When Jesus told His disciples, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger….”, surely He was stating that He was and He is the complete spiritual source of nourishment. Jesus had informed Satan early in His earthly ministry, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” Matthew 4:4. It is God’s command that man depend not only on the physical bread but on the heavenly spiritual bread of God’s ‘every word’.

‘The house of Israel named it manna, and it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey’. Exodus 16:31. The first mention of divinely supplied food in the Scriptures is provided in Exodus. The Israelites had been led by God miraculously out of Egypt where they had been enslaved, into the great wilderness. Each household gathered manna every morning except on the Sabbath. On the morning before the Sabbath they gathered enough for two days. This was God’s provision for His people for forty years until they were able to eat the produce of Canaan. read more

ENDURANCE

Made Perfect Forever

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Hebrews 5:8-9. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.
Hebrews 2:10. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.
1 Corinthians 15:45. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul”; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. Recovery Version.
Revelation 4:5. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Exodus 31:2-5. “See, I have called by name Bezalel , the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. “I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
Exodus 37:17,22-23. Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers were of one piece with it….Their bulbs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it was a single hammered work of pure gold. He made its seven lamps with its snuffers and its trays of pure gold.
1 Peter 5:10-11. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself  perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 5:8-10. ….for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Matthew 5:14-15. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”

‘Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered’. Was not Jesus found to be perfect in all His words, deeds and conduct during His life on earth? Why then would He need to learn ‘obedience from the things which He suffered’?

Jesus was the Son of God and He was also the Son of Man. His mother was Mary, choice indeed. Yes! But Mary was conceived in sin as David, her forefather before her, was obliged to confess. As a son of man, just like one of us, Jesus was ‘tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin’. Hebrews 4:15. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

With Unveiled Face

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2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

During my latest period of seven weeks in India there were several noteworthy events and happenings. Most significant among these were disclosures of the Divine Being. For instance, one Friday morning session with a Christian Leadership Student group will remain in my memory always. I was discoursing from the chapter in my book, ‘To Him Who Overcomes’. Towards the end of our time together it was as though Jesus in the midst of us put His arms around our small company and embraced us into Himself. I felt a shaking inside me but not at all of fear. It was the purest, calmest sense of love I have ever imagined. All in the room confessed a similar experience. I noted that many of them were lying forward over their desks in an apparent state of awe.

The veil that hid the face of Jesus seemed so fine that it felt almost possible to penetrate our gaze through it and behold Him. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

The Precious Produce of the Soil

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Acts 1:13-14. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
James 5:7-8. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.
Luke 10:2. And He said to them, “The harvest is great, but the workers few; therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest.” Recovery Version.

The Lord is utterly consistent, in all His ways, in the types that represent His truth, and in the patterns He has established for mankind to follow. If we examine an event or process that God has set in motion, it will reveal something significant about how He works. Such is the case when we read the account concerning the clothing with power of the around a hundred and twenty on that long ago day of Pentecost. The pattern of Pentecost is a defining one.

Those gathered together, awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, had been born again when Jesus had breathed into them and said, ‘receive the Holy Spirit’. Prior to that, the faith of each one of them had failed during the time of Jesus’ greatest trial. However, it was through their experiences of failure that they had been prepared and approved by God to receive the outpoured Holy Spirit. They no longer put trust in themselves. On the great day of Pentecost, after they had been clothed with power from on high, there was the beginning of a great harvest and the church, the body of Christ came into being. read more

OVERCOMING

The Weapons of Our Warfare

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Genesis 2:8-9. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
James 4:7. Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Ephesians 6:11-12. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

When the Lord God created Adam, He ‘placed the man whom He had formed’ in Eden. The Lord laid upon Adam only one restriction; that he must not eat of the fruit of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’. Adam and his wife Eve had been gifted with freedom of choice. Their encounter with Satan and subsequent willful disobedience to God’s command brought sin and death upon all their descendants. The way to the tree of life was barred from them. Adam, in his creation is referred to as ‘the son of God’, Luke 3:38. But, following their rebellion the disobedient pair became orphans, having forfeited the right to call God, ‘Father’.

‘But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law….’ Galatians 4:4. ‘God sent forth His Son’. All who believe in Jesus may choose to follow their own inclinations or follow the leading of the Holy Spirit who indwells them. In Romans 8:14 we read, ‘For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God’. The ‘right to the tree of life’ and the right to be recognized as a ‘son of God’ have been given back in Christ to all who will continually devote themselves to ‘being led by the Spirit of God’. read more

ENDURANCE

If I be Lifted Up

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John 12:31-32. “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
John 3:14-16. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Romans 4:25-5:1.He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ephesians 2:4-6. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
2 Corinthians 5:10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. The central purpose of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus was that, through His death, all that Satan had brought about to mar the perfect works of God might be undone; that all be brought back to the perfection that God purposed in the beginning. Because of Adam’s sin and disobedience judgment came upon this world and upon all living things. All must be brought back to God. For this specific purpose Jesus was ‘lifted up from the earth’.

Jesus was lifted up from the earth in three stages. Firstly, Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cruel cross of Calvary. There, as the sinless Lamb of God He willingly took upon Him the sin of the whole world, so that newness of life might be available to all who will trust in Him as Saviour. Secondly, Jesus was lifted up through resurrection from the dead because death had no power over Him. ‘God has made Him both Lord and Christ’, Acts 2:36. Thirdly, Jesus was lifted up from the earth into the heavens to be seated with the Father. From thence He shall return as King of kings and Lord of lords at His promised coming again to the earth to reign forever and ever. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

One is Your Leader

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Can you imagine a defense force in which there were Field Marshalls, Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains and Lieutenants, all of whom knew a good deal about withstanding enemy attack, yet their troops were largely stay at home civilians? In this example, the troops are expected to put on their uniforms and assemble on the parade ground at the army base once a week. For most of the time while they are on parade, they are simply required to stand ‘at ease’ listening to accounts of bygone battles and army regulations. At the end of each lecture they are brought to ‘stand at attention’ before they are marched off the parade ground, dismissed and allowed to return home, remove their uniforms and resume their civilian life? If this description bears some resemblance to the organization and operation of much of the church on earth today it is the intention to do so.

So let us open our New Testament and take a look at how God really does intend that His church should  operate and act as the testimony of Jesus Christ on earth today.

In the example above, only the Field Marshalls and Generals would have direct access to the Supreme Commander, whereas every member of God’s army, His church, is given the right to direct access to their Supreme Commander, at any time of day or night. Through Jesus we ‘have our access in one Spirit to the Father’. Ephesians 2:18. read more

ENDURANCE

That I May Know Him

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Jeremiah 29:13. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
John 1:40-41. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ).
Philippians 3:7-10. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

Countless numbers over the many centuries since the Lord Jesus lived, died and was resurrected have found salvation by grace through faith in Him. For many it has been a truly amazing and life changing experience that they are always ready to recount to others. Many times their testimony to the saving power of Jesus is expressed to others so that these too may be brought to the same glorious state of forgiveness from sin and connection with our Father in heaven. However, sadly, the evidence appears to be that comparatively few press on to find an ongoing deep and intimate relationship with Jesus.

‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart’. God in the person of Jesus may become a real living person to us yet, have we discovered who He really is and experienced Him as the resurrected and ascended victorious Lord Jesus Christ? If we have indeed found Him, will not the evidence of it be that we live daily, moment by moment, in His presence? If we have really encountered Jesus shall we not consistently seek to please Him rather than to please ourselves? His Lordship over our life will be the evidence of our discipleship. read more

FELLOWSHIP

Jesus is ‘the Way and the Truth and the Life’

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“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” So said Augustine of Hippo in around the fourth century A.D. We are born into this world with a restlessness that can only be satisfied when we find our ultimate home in God. That is the location in which it was God’s intention that we should reside. Until we find the way to this, our home, we are lost and alone.

The Father established and set in motion an eternal plan, His Son spoke forth every stage of creation as recorded in Genesis chapter one and the Holy Spirit carried out each divine command. At the very centre of that eternal plan was the creation of a man whom God named Adam. From Adam’s introduction into the Garden of Eden, God and man enjoyed communion and fellowship. Adam had a Father. He had been created in the likeness of His Father’s only begotten Son. In addition to his body and soul God had created Adam with a spirit. His spirit had not yet been made alive. In order to become spiritually alive, that he might forever become a perfect son of God, Adam must make a choice. Eden was his proving ground. The fruit of every tree in the garden except one was his to enjoy. Only the fruit of one tree was forbidden for him to eat. Had Adam and his wife, Eve, taken of the fruit of the tree of life they would have become spiritually alive and in God they would have found their home, their dwelling place forever.

On that proving ground of Eden man became a slave to sin, so God ‘drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life’. Genesis 3:24. Man became an orphan without the fatherhood of God and he and all who would issue from him became spiritually dead. However, God had left a promise of the One who would bruise the serpent’s head and ‘when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons’. Thus, the sons of Adam through faith in the atoning death of Jesus are no longer orphans, All who have come to faith in Jesus are now the children of the Living God. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Live on Every Word

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Matthew 4:3-4. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'”
 Matthew 6:9-10. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:20-21.“So then, you will know them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” In this interchange between the devil and Jesus there is both a specific message and a broader message. What Satan was suggesting to Jesus was this. You can do anything. You are the Son of God. What Jesus conveyed to Satan in His response was that He who stood in front of him was limited to be the Son of Man. He had no greater advantages than the first man, Adam, when he had stood before Satan as the serpent in the garden of Eden.

In this Jesus was telling Satan that, though physical bread has its place, there was another more essential nourishment to live by and that is, ‘every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ In its broader application, Jesus was informing all who would be His followers that they too must live on ‘every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ read more

ENDURANCE

Seated Us with Him

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Luke 11:1-2. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” And He said to them, ” When you pray, say: ‘ Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.”
Matthew 6:10. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
Hebrews 5:8-9. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation…
Romans 8:16-17. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Ephesians 2:4-6. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus….

One of Jesus’ disciples, who had been with Him while He was praying to His Father, requested of Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray….” His response was ” When you pray, say: ‘ Father….” Within this one word ‘Father’ lies the assurance of our reconciliation to God through faith in the atoning death of His Son and the recognition that we are members of one family in eternal unbreakable unity. Our God is at once the awesome being before whom we bow and our loving Father whom we may love with all our heart and soul and mind. Now, in the power of the Spirit, we may also forever love and live in unity with all the other members of God’s eternal family.

“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” This statement holds the entire meaning and purpose of our life here upon earth. For, when God’s kingdom came into us in the blessed person of the Holy Spirit, from then on our life is to be wholly devoted to express the person of Jesus and the will and purpose of our Father upon this earth. To affirm in our fleshly weakness that this is not possible would surely be to deny the power of the One who now and forever lives within us. The Holy Spirit is God. His power is infinite. read more

OBEDIENCE

As it is in Heaven

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Matthew 6:9-13. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.  Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’ ”
Hebrews 5:8. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

In eternity past our Father’s will was unquestioningly obeyed and performed by every member of the heavenly host. His will was done in heaven and all His created beings performed it, and they worshipped their Creator. That is, until the rebellion of Lucifer the light bearer, the archangel of God. As soon as that insurrection occurred, heaven set in motion a plan that would return the conditions of unquestioned obedience to the Father by all His created beings.

All those who participated in that rebellion were under judgment. In God’s time they will be cast forever into the flaming fires of Hell. They will be without the capacity to exercise their will to do anything. When Lucifer became God’s adversary, Satan (for such is the meaning of his name) it became his role to oppose God. In Hell he has lost this role forever for he has no way to exercise it. Existence in Hell is completely pointless and purposeless, for the capacity to will and to purpose lies alone with God. Those who are judged and found guilty before God will be cast into Hell with Satan. They will be there because it was their deliberate and irrevocable choice to serve their self and thus oppose God. read more

FELLOWSHIP

A Fragrance of Christ

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1 Corinthians 2:7-10. ….but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
1 Peter 2:4-5. And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-13. And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the body of Christ; Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Recovery Version.
1 Corinthians 14:26-33. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18. ….but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

As the times of the Gentiles draw inexorably towards their close, the Lord is revealing many secrets to His own which have remained hidden until now; ‘the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory’. He is unveiling more and more concerning the things ‘that God has prepared for those who love Him’….through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

Central within the purpose and plan of the Godhead is that there is to be a bride for Christ. Although it may seem incomprehensible to us, who perhaps cannot imagine that the Godhead could lack or need anything, a desire was created in Jesus for a counterpart, one who will complete Him. His counterpart will one day forever be the wife of the Lamb who shall fulfil and satisfy that desire. In God’s plan, formed in eternity past, Jesus’ bride, His wife, would be comprised of members of God’s highest created being, man. Fundamental to His unfolding plan God created Adam, in the image of Jesus, referred to in Luke 3:38 as ‘the son of God. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

Built Together

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John 11:49-52. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Ephesians 2:19-22. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:11-16. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,  from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Caiaphas the high priest cannot have been aware of the true significance of his prophecy, because his motive in uttering those words was murder. However, the statement added by the Holy Spirit informs us of God’s purpose in allowing this deed to be carried out, ‘and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad’.  In these words also lies the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham so long before, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:18.

We cannot doubt that God’s great purpose to gather together all who believe, both Jew and Gentile into one, will indeed be fulfilled. Jesus died for this. We Gentiles, who have found faith in Jesus, ‘are no longer strangers and aliens, but….are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household’. read more

ENDURANCE

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

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Hebrews 12:1-2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Matthew 14:25-31. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.  When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ” Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.
1 Corinthians 9:24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?

From the very instant that we turned to God from our hopeless and sinful state, the Spirit of the Living God joined Himself forever with our human spirit and we entered ‘the race that is set before us’. For the first time, as we fixed ‘our eyes on Jesus’, He became to us ‘the author…. of faith’.

During the time Jesus dwelt among us He ran the race His Father gave Him to run. Knowing only the joy that was set before Him, He ‘endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’. His race had been won. ‘For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father’. Philippians 2:9-11. What a Victor! What a victory! read more

LOVE

The One Who Loves Me

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Matthew 22:36-38. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment.”
1 John 4:16-19. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 2:3-6. By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ” I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected . By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
John 14:21,23. “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”….”If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.”

Why would the Lord God give to fallen mankind ‘the great and foremost commandment’ that He knew no one would be able to keep? Surely it was that He desires above all else from those He created in His own image, that He would receive from them, in like measure, what He freely and unrestrictedly gives to them – love.

It is instructive to note that, had Adam entered into this love relationship with his Creator, neither he nor his wife Eve would have, or could have, disobeyed Him. In a perfect environment the first rule of love is that in everything you will seek to please the ones whom you love ‘with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’, by doing their will. Had the disobedient pair chosen to eat the fruit of the tree of life they would have been filled with the love of God, they would have gladly obeyed His every word and they would have lived forever. read more

FELLOWSHIP

Members One of Another

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Romans 12:4-5. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Galatians 3:26-28. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
John 17:20-23. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity….”

When the Scriptures speak about our destiny in Christ, it is as though we have already attained to it. For instance ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God….’  Ephesians 2:8. Compare this with ‘For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God’. 1 Corinthians 1:18. The Lord Jesus is both the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. That which begins in Him will always be completed perfectly in Him, yet there will be a process to be gone through. The process by which we are saved is described in Philippians 2:12-13. ‘So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’. The Holy Spirit, who enters the believer at the instant of salvation, is Himself ‘God who is at work in you’. Each one who believes must permit Him ‘both to will and to work for His good pleasure’.

The passage in Romans assures all those who have believed unto salvation that ‘we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another’. This follows the Trinitarian pattern of the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are members of one another, yet together they are one God. A wonderful expression of this pattern as applying to believers, is found in Revelation 19. Those who during their life experience have allowed the Holy Spirit to complete God’s work in them according to ‘His good pleasure’ will corporately be presented to the Lord Jesus as His wife at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Following the marriage supper the Lamb, sat upon a white horse, will be displayed at the head of ‘the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean….following Him on white horses’. Surely the ones dressed in fine linen will be the individual members who so lately had comprised the wife of the Lamb. read more

BODY RELATEDNESS

Our Gathering Together To Him

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Colossians 1:18-19. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him….
Colossians 3:16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.1 Corinthians 14:26,31. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification….For you can all prophesy one by one , so that all may learn and all may be exhorted;

The Lord Jesus as the Head of His body, the church, is the sole director of its operation and coordination. Thus, every true gathering together of the saints will be orchestrated in heaven. In the mind and will of God there is no such event as a meeting of God’s people that is pre-planned as to order and content.

Within the saints, who are gathered unto Jesus, exist all the riches of divine life and wisdom available to be expressed as the Holy Spirit shall prompt utterance. Every contribution shared, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, will blend together to glorify our Lord and Master and rejoice the heart of our Father in heaven. If all who are assembled were to speak and act perfectly and precisely in accordance with the leading of the Spirit, then their symphony of testimony, exhortation, admonition, revelation, teaching, worship and praise offered would bring such gladness to our Father’s heart as would, for all those present, be an experience never to be forgotten. Perfection of obedience to the leading of the Spirit may not be possible in this earthly sphere, yet if all those gathered will yield to the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit, then their meeting together will be in such contrast to a regulated religious meeting that those who have experienced it may never want to return to restricted conditions again. read more

TRANSFORMATION

Transformed into the Same Image

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1 Peter 2:9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light….
Colossians 1:13. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son….
Ephesians 1:13-14. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

When we first experience salvation ‘by grace through faith’, we enter into a fullness of joy such as we have never known, yet our future is wrapped up in a mystery. We wonder what lies ahead of us along the pathway of life now that we have become a believer in Jesus.

It is easy to imagine that, having been ‘called….out of darkness’ or ‘rescued….from the domain of darkness’ we must simply await our ultimate destiny of going to be with Jesus in heaven at life’s close. Being brought ‘into His marvelous light’ is truly a life changing experience. Some feel drawn to enter some form of ministry. However, for most, the Christian life and walk will consist of joining with other believers in a pattern of church attendance and activities that follows the well-worn path of tradition. Looking back, the writer’s perspective was very much along those lines. read more

OVERCOMING

It is No Longer I Who Live

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Galatians 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.”
Romans 8:19-21. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Galatians 2:20 expresses one of the deep heart cries of the apostle Paul, which many who love the Lord Jesus hold as especially dear to them. It describes a state that many desire to be their own experience. However, the importance of pressing on to attain to this degree of surrendered faith can easily be a goal in itself that doesn’t take into account its vital significance toward the achievement of the eternal plan and purpose of God. ‘For we are God’s fellow workers’. 1 Corinthians 3:9.

“I have been crucified with Christ….” At the moment that Jesus cried out “It is finished” and “Father into your hands I commit my spirit” all sins, all sinners and indeed all the works of the devil were forever dealt with. Henceforth, newness was made certain. ‘The old things passed away; behold, new things have come’. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Nevertheless, evidence of the old will linger on in the presence of the new until the dawn of eternity, when the new Jerusalem will be displayed as the centerpiece of new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness will dwell forever. read more