Tag Archives: Heaven

Practise

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You have heard that nothing corrupt will ever enter eternity with the Lord.  I know I’ve mentioned it a time or two.  And you’ve noticed how corrupt you are, I hope.  Now there’s a problem here, ya think?  It’s a problem we all struggle with.  You’ll be cruising along just fine one day and, all of a sudden, you realize you’re pondering or doing something you KNOW the Lord will not allow entrance into Heaven.  It’s one thing to ask for forgiveness from the Lord and believe you have received it.  But what will you do next time?  Is there a place a man can live where he commits these wicked things less and less?  I can testify that there is such a place.  And though I don’t know how Jesus will deal with you personally over these issues, I know of a clue to learning how to obey Him more often.

When you were a child you learned how to do many wicked things.  You learned early how to lie.  It was, at first, a way of keeping out of trouble.  But remember, there was also a time when you had no clue how to lie.  So you learned how to be wicked so you could do what you wanted and get away with it.  From that moment on lies became a tool in your tool box.  And you’ll notice that through out every day lies still come to mind.  You might not play them out.  But they’re still hangin around. 

The key to transforming your mind from wickedness to purity is called learning.  Think of the things you used to do as a child.  How many things have you forgotten how to do?  Like crawling through the grass.  Adults don’t do that much.  But children love it.  How did you come to forget how to enjoy that?  The answer is, you stopped doing it.  You learned to lie the same way.  You stopped living in innocence.  It’s our practise that leads to who we become.  If I practise playing guitar, I get better at it.  If I stop playing guitar for a year or two I hardly even think of it anymore.  It’s not that I can’t remember if I pick it up again.  But I will have to learn all over again how to get pretty good at it.  Practise.

Be innocent of what is evil and wise about what is good.  But how do we become innocent of what is evil if we have lived evil lives?  How do you forget what is evil if that is all you’ve been all your life?  The Lord’s reply is amazingly simple.  “Practise doing what is good and you will forget what is evil.  Just as when you begin to practice what is evil you forget what is good.” (As I heard Him whisper to me one day)

Peter put it this way:  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy because I am Holy.’” (1 Peter 1: 14)

But the Apostle Paul pens the words like this:  “. . . but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”  (Romans 16:19)

Learn from the Lord by listening to the Word of God in the Bible.  Learn from the Lord by listening to His leading in your conscience.   Learn to listen to His voice of guidance from the Holy Spirit within you (if, indeed, you are a Christian).  For if you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it will do you no good to practice what is good; for you are still bound by the father of lies.  Only in Jesus can we hope to find help in our attempts to become holy and practice what is good.  Before Jesus within us, we can only play like children at accomplishing the holiness God the Father demands.  The power to please God comes from an intimate relationship with Jesus.  And we have heard that those who practise evil will never enter God’s peace.  Practise!

By His Grace.

The Light’s On. But Where’s the Understanding?

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HEAVEN

Pondering the life I’m leading, I’m struck by the difference between the mind-set of the world and the awareness of Jesus in my life.  To the world, ownership and identity are the primary reasons of life.  They chase after absolutely everything that can be grasped by man.  But the Christian will learn to abhor these things and become consumed with the Spiritual things.

Sports, sex, houses, land, title, friends, and money are the objects of the world’s affection.  But righteousness, pleasing the Father in Heaven, evangelism, prayer, and watching against sin are the objects of the Christian’s affection.  Every moment is consumed with the things of the Lord for the Christian.  Yet the very last thing a worldly person wants to do is ponder religion and God. 

This difference is never so plain as when, after a time of reflection on the things of Heaven, I talk to a worldly person.  Our conversation will be sharply divided.  No matter what we talk about, I am headed toward the connections between the things of this world and the things of God.  Yet the worldly person will stop his thinking at the things of this world.  To him, life is simple and radically confusing.  To the Christian, life is never simple or confusing.  God is primary to the one who has accepted Jesus.  Jesus is the stench of death to the worldly person. 

I feel the strain every time I talk with the worldly person.  And it causes me to yearn for isolation again.  But isn’t this the state of affairs?  We are not our own.  We are bought with a price.  And we no longer belong to the system of understanding this world craves.

By His Grace.

Glenn Beck and the “Two Witnesses” of Revelation.

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Flag of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem

Image via Wikipedia

(Since this entry was written nothing has come about to warrant its writing.  I will leave this post on my blog.  I see that a lot of people are searching for such things.  But I will remind the reader that prophecy has its place.  All the while, leading a life filled with the Holy Spirit of God is of vastly more importance.  While we search for what is to come, let us remember to live a life worthy of God’s blessing.  Prophecy will do nothing to help us as we stand before the Throne of Christ Jesus.  Obedience, however, will help us immensely.)

I just posted a difference in beliefs between Glenn Beck and the children of the Most High God through Jesus’ sacrifice.  So I feel a bit redundant bringing him back to my blog.  But something is transpiring which demands attention.

Glenn is planning to take his media power to Jerusalem.  It is his belief that he must stand with Israel in the coming days.  I pondered this move in light of the Lord’s plans and wondered how this might fit in.  Though I don’t have direct word from the Lord on this, I’ve come to a realization that might hold some water.

The current media ignores Israel, being quite liberal and ungodly in their approach to the world’s plight.  And we have heard of the two witnesses which will appear to testify to the world’s ungodly behavior.  It’s not likely that the current media would even notice them, given their present bend to sin.  But we are told that these two witnesses will be seen by the entire world.  Is it possible that Glenn’s move to Jerusalem (along with his powerful outreach) is a direct hand of God?  Perhaps the Lord is setting up the stage on which these two men will carry out their appointed tasks.

The following is the account of these two men from the book of Revelation chapter 11.  I present this, not as the direct word of God, as something for all men to ponder and respect.  God will move against the sins of this world.  How He will do it is only in our hands to watch.

1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. 2 But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. 3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”  5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

 7 Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

 11 But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

 13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

 

May all who seek life from the Lord through Jesus be made to wake.  The time is nearer now than ever before.  Do not get caught sleeping.

As a supplement to this post, I invite you to read Man’s Understanding of Holy Lacks a Bit.   (which is another post on my blog)

By His Grace.

It is Finished.

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In the way of the Christian life we are required to war against all manner of enemies.  But what exactly are our enemies and by what means shall we conduct this war?  We do not war with implements of bodily damage as does a soldier on a battle field of this world.  How often I have wished that I could just face my enemies and do a physical battle once and for all.  But this is not the lot of a Christian. 

From the point of view of the physical, we swat the unseen around us.  We thrash and churn the air against what is not apparent.  We have dreams of our sins and wake upset.  We speak a lie without thinking and regret that sound had come from our lips.  We find ourselves thinking of something we know is wicked and loathe our brains.  We see the ungodliness of those around us and ponder the difference between ourselves and those who hold themselves accountable to no one.  Then we are doused with regret that we should compare ourselves to anyone.  We notice, in retrospect, that we have omitted an action which should have been accomplished.  And we hate ourselves for being so blind to what is right and good.  And we note that all these things and more are the nature of our war.

In citing the “more”, we consider the onslaught of temptations toward ungodly evil.  All day long and even into the night, we are tempted as is any other man.  Greed, hatred, slander, idolatry, doubt, and godless thoughts assault the Christian every moment of every day.  Sometimes they are brought about by advertisements we witness around us.  The media (TV, magazines, billboards, bumper stickers, window dressings in a store, the actions of others, and even the memories of our sinful and godless days) press us with temptations toward unfaithfulness toward our God, Jesus.  In citing the “more” there is not enough paper or time to mention every aspect of temptations.

And what are we tempted to do?  We are tempted to do two things:

We are tempted to sin; to ignore the holy life God is calling us to live and pursue selfish gain which we cannot keep.  We are tempted to satisfy the lust of our bodies by chasing after a certain fulfillment of desire we experience in the now.  Anything which is not eternal or offends our conscience before the Most High God is sin.  And we are tempted to consider the Lord of Life a liar.  In this we are most viciously tempted.  When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished”, He did not intend that anything was left to do.  We are tempted to allow ourselves to give in to regret for sins we commit.  And in this particular temptation we are set to task in a ferocious manner.

If the Lord of all creation is not complete in His sacrifice on the cross, then we war in vain.  But this is the central point in all our warring.  We live as if to testify that Jesus is complete and that His word is absolute, final, true, and Holy.  We war to prove the Lord correct.   We do not war to be saved from certain condemnation before the Father God.  We war to prove the effectiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.  It has been mentioned by many that we do not live as Christians to become saved.  This task is done for us.  No man can please God on his own merit.  Instead, we war to bring glory to Jesus by believing what He has said and done for all men.  And we war in this Holy battle to be considered by Jesus for a promised reward and place in His heavenly kingdom. 

Now, this brings the very point of the pin into view.  If we fight the battle with the glory of Jesus in mind, we are more than conquerors, as Paul has said.  For in the sacrifice of Jesus, we have already won.  And all that is left is to secure our standing before Him.  This will release the child of God to live.  This way of fighting will release the man of God to live a victorious life.  A life filled with hope and free of shame.  When we become aware of sin and temptation in our lives, we submit ourselves to God through prayer through confession and requests and believe as we have heard Him testify, “It is finished”. 

Hope is the result of His work.  We have no hope without Him.  Yet we have the right to hope.  For He who cannot lie has promised!  We war with the very essence of our beings as a people without hope.  And we war against what we cannot see by believing He who we cannot see.  This will be foolishness to anyone who does not believe.  There are no bruises, no blood, no cuts, or broken bones.   There is nothing to prove that a war is even necessary.  Yet we who believe are constantly aware of the war against us. And the closer we get to Him the more the battle rages.  Curiously, however, the closer we get to Him, and the more the battle rages, the less fear we experience.

In all things Jesus will be glorified, and that to the glory of the Father in Heaven.  For He has performed our righteous for us!  He has spoken in a body the perfect will of God for all who would dare believe.  As He has said, “It is finished”.  Believe and live!

By His Grace.

Vain Superstitions

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We are not called to frolic in the guestimations of the world regarding the Holiness of God.  We are called to join with Him in implementing His will among men.  While men make guesses regarding end times, the “Way”, the nature of Jesus’ salvation and glorification, God remains steady and sure.  He does not shift or change according to the limited understanding of man’s wicked contrivings regarding Holy.  God is.  And it is enough for us to live by the faith He gives each one of us.

Cease your constant wandering and rest.  It is God who works His will in His people.  Do not be swayed by all kinds of foolish words with which man builds his kingdoms.  They speculate about what is true.  It is God’s domain to KNOW what is true.  The one who follows Jesus will lay aside all this foolishness and pick up what is absolute.  God is willing to share wisdom to anyone who will ask.  And He will share this vast resource without judgment of any man’s history or bend toward wickedness.  Only, let us not give in to believing all the short sighted superstitions the world begs us to endure.  Hold firmly to Jesus and the truth He reveals.

Let those who will chase after vain knowledge; knowledge that is puffed up by the mind and wicked heart of man.  It is not the lot of Christians to cave to the foolish of the world around them who do not know the Lord of Glory.

By His Grace.

Cooking While Sleeping.

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No one is useful to a task unless he applies everything he has to that task.  You can’t drive a car well if you’re busy texting.  You can’t do the dishes if you’re playing with the dog.  You can’t mow the lawn if you’re in the basement watching football.  And you can’t serve the Lord of Glory while you’re busy chasing after the things of this world.

To love the world is to be at war against God.  Yet to love God and seek His complete will for you is going to put you at war against the ways of this world.  A person must decide which side of the war is best.  God has said that He wins in the end.  And it will be those who have come under the leadership of Jesus who enter the victory celebration of God.  While the world will bow with perfect tears and sorrow, God’s army will enter with their heads held high and with great joy and singing.

For now we see things turned the other way.  The world looks down on those who serve the One who made us all.  But the day will come when they will be the ones to find their eyes unable to look up.

By His Grace.