Perhaps as we are wrapping up this session (our last dates being the 6th and 8th of August), if you can take some time to write down your testimonies of what God is doing in your life.  I have been so blessed to hear your reports. I take your confidentiality seriously so will not share without specific permission.      There is tremendous power in our testimonies to encourage others.   I have heard of at least 4 healings since the Lord invited me to join with the community at Byron United.      You can share here by adding a comment (make sure you are logged out if you want to do so anonymously) or there is a board outside the room we meet in for prayers, Angie mentioned you can post there too if you like.

Just a reminder this is our second last week before we break for the summer.  Our last official meetings for this session will be August the 6th and 8th.     We will have a fully  optional meeting on August the 13th to discuss some of the more “out there” things that have come up.

We may have a new gentleman joining us, a retired orthopedic surgeon with many encouraging stories of the Lord’s faithfulness and provision in his life.   He is contending with asthma which sometimes brings on coughing fits.   Please join me in praying for his full restoration.    I recognize some have hearing aids etc so do seat yourselves accordingly.   Having chatted with him, he has let me know he would appreciate if we just carry on with the meetings if one of these fits happens while he is there.        If he needs assistance, he will certainly let us know.

This week on Tuesday morning we will starting at verse Psalm 119:114 on page 10 and on Thursday at verse 2 Peter 1:19-21 on page 10

As always, I am so blessed to be sharing this part of my own walk with the Lord surrounded by such a compassionate, loving  and dynamic group of brothers and sisters in Christ.   Please do let me know, as always, if there is something I am sharing or doing that does not line up with the Word and/or concerns.      Our desire is to accomodate everyone to the best of our ability.

 

In response to a question from this week.

From a mother, a daughter, a friend and someone who prays fairly often for those who are suffering from sickness and disease, I can so understand the heart cry to understand and long to know how to pray effectively.  That groaning and heart pain we feel when we see our loved ones suffering is a reflection of the heartcry, compassion  and tender/fierce/protective love of our Heavenly Father.  Even more than we want these things, our Abba Father longs for them even more.  He sent Jesus to live and then to die in the most horrendous way because His love for us and desire to see us restored, and fully healed was so great, that He willingly paid this price to redeem us.

There are kind of 2 parts to this.   How do I get an answer to a specific and pressing need that is on my heart today?   For example when a loved one is terminally sick or so miserable mentally that time is of the essence.  And 2nd, how do I see all my prayers answered.    There are many keys to this answer but no formulas, no quick and easy skip the queue methods.

I should mention that I have a whole topic dedicated to this subject.    So there are many verses to explore that explain the bigger picture of prayer.  It will be easy to fill 6 to 10 weeks on this topic alone.   So there is so so much more then this.

Short answer to the first is tied to the second.   Prioritize the Kingdom and hearing from the Lord.  These are the keys that will unlock everything you need.   Commit yourself to a season of being immersed intensively and transformed by the Word and let God do what He longs to do in your life.   I have heard so so many praise reports linked to someone carving out a chunk of time from their normal life to pray, fast, meditate, read the Word etc    The disciples became what they did because for 3 years, they left everything of their lives behind to focus  on and follow Jesus as their Rabbi.   We will see a tremendous increase in the effectiveness of our prayers when we commit to this and do this.  God has promised to answer the prayers of a person who is walking in this way.    There is no formula answer.    There is simply a call to consider the cost and invitation to all who are willing to do so to follow Him and do as He did.

The answer to the 2nd is that this is truly part of the highest calling on a Christ-follower.    What we desire is of course instant results and shifts.    The more we are transformed into Christ’s image and the more faithfully we live and do as He did, the more effective/fruitful  our prayer life becomes in general.   This means every bit of time you invest into the keys that follow have value are investments and will bring increase to fruit of your prayers.  We are ultimately each in charge of choosing how quickly we grow and mature in Christ as this is very much tied to how much time we set aside daily to prioritize kingdom understanding and growth in us.   The more your immerse yourself, the faster the fruit will come.    Remember the words from this week from Timothy.   “Throw yourself completely into the task so others will see your progress”.    Scripture tells us there is one thing worth striving for, and that is entering into His rest.   The work scripture assigns to us is to believe in the One sent.   These are the core things of what we are called/commanded to do anyways.

Without Christ, it is of course impossible.  But all things are possible with Him.   So my own hearts cry is “Heavenly Father, even my part feels too hard and too impossible in these things.  Please change my heart and my desire to want these things above all else so that I will truly let you transform me and equip me for the destiny and work you have created me for.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

All of creation is groaning for the sons of God to be made manifest.    This is because the children of God were intended from the begining to take dominion and care for the earth in agreement with God’s will and ways.   As long as born again believers have not taken up these birth “rigths” and “responsibities” all of creation will continue to groan under the weight of sin and death.  Of course these things will not fully disappear until our Lord’s return but all of creation is blessed when even one comes into their sonship.

Romans 8:18-22 English Standard Version (ESV) “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

 

A summary list in response to the question from Tuesday.

1.  Seek God and His Kingdom and His righteousness as your top and first priority all the time.   Knowing out identity  and authority is a byproduct of doing this.

Matthew 6:31-33 King James Version (KJV) “31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Key Point:   Health and healing are fruit are a product of the Kingdom of God.  Yes, as Kingdom children we can call them into the fallen world.  But we can do this most effectively when we have taken up our residence in the Kingdom.

I have a relative who is a Canadian citizen but works in the states.   Her main home is here, her heart is here, her health care is here, but she spends a lot of time there.    Knowing who we are and the kingdom that we are citizens of and the benefits that come with it are absolutely KEY.   These things teach us who we are, what our “benefits” are and how to act as ambassadors of the kingdom and ministers of reconciliation.   This involves us actively taking dominion and being part of God’s enforcement team.  This requires us learning how to effectively use the  authority He has delegated to us.  We can never rest or be set free from the anxiousness and striving that will constantly try to rule the roost without getting a revelation of just HOW GOOD and HOW faithful our Heavenly Father is all time.   If we seek His face and knowing Him as a top priority, everything else begins to flow readily.

2.  Abiding in the Lord is a big factor.

   Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing and was in constant communion with Him     I personally believe that very often our effectiveness in prayer will reflect our intimacy and the measure of time we spent abiding with the Lord.     I encourage you to do a word study of abiding, remaining in, etc and you will find so so many verses that talk about how many promises, including prayers being answered are tied into abiding.

John 15:7 KJV ““If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

3. Reading the Word and Meditating on it Day and Night

John 8:32 KJV“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

This is one of those present progressive tense ones.  And you shall  increasingly know the truth (ongoing) and the truth shall (ongoing) make you more and more free.   Praying scripture is highly effective especially when it is backed by Word rooted faith and in the absence of unbelief.   We talked about the verse that said the Word has been purified and about the high praises of God being like a sword.    We saw that Jesus used the Word to resist the devil.   We also saw that there are times we need to bind the strong man in order to plunder his goods (those he is holding captive via sin).  We talked about how Jesus was able to use scripture with surgical precision.   

Psalm 149:6-7 King James Version (KJV) “6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;”

Psalm 12:6 King James Version (KJV) “6 The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”

4. Persistent and Unrelenting prayer

Luke 18:1-8 King James Version (KJV) “18 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;  2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:  3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.  4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;  5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.   6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.  7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?  8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Matthew 7:7 ” New Living Translation “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you”

If you remember, James 5 talked about Elijah being an example of the righteous man praying fervently and effectively. (See 1st Kings 17-18).   He modelled these three elements powerfully.  Faith flows out of the first 3 things mentioned.   Faith is the inevitable product if we have these 3 things in our lives.

5. Casting off Unbelief, Sin and Wordliness = We must truly submit / make ourselves subject to the Lord God.

The disciples themselves did not always see their prayers answered.   These are three thing mentioned in scripture that were part of the lives of those ministering that blocked healing, somehow rendered their prayers ineffectual. (See Matthew 17:21 in context, and Galatians 5:24).   Note that the disciples themselves were rebuked (not comforted) for failing to live in a way to cast these things off.    

Luke 9:40-42 New Living Translation (NLT) “40 I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” 41 Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you and put up with you?” Then he said to the man, “Bring your son here.” 42 As the boy came forward, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the evil[a] spirit and healed the boy. Then he gave him back to his father.”

Romans 6:15-17 New Living Translation (NLT) “15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.”

Romans 8:4-10 The Passion Translation (TPT)”4 So now every righteous requirement of the law can be fulfilled through the Anointed One living his life in us. And we are free to live, not according to our flesh, but by the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit!5 Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities. 6 For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace.  7 In fact, the mind-set focused on the flesh fights God’s plan and refuses to submit to his direction, because it cannot! 8 For no matter how hard they try, God finds no pleasure with those who are controlled by the flesh. 9 But when the Spirit of Christ empowers your life, you are not dominated by the flesh but by the Spirit. And if you are not joined to the Spirit of the Anointed One, you are not of him.10 Now Christ lives his life in you! And even though your body may be dead because of the effects of sin, his life-giving Spirit imparts life to you because you are fully accepted by God.”

Galatians 6:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV) “6 Brothers,[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

The flesh cannot produce or even understand the works of God.  Recalling that “Human effort accomplishes nothing” and that “only the spirit can understand the Spirit” that we simply need to die to self, to the flesh, to the lusts of this world and a wordly perspective to see and act according to the Kingdom realities.  The disciples could not heal the boy with seizures due to their unbelief and wordliness.   In one translation Jesus rebuked them saying “your lives are all wrong”.    To see all of our prayers answered we have to meet all of the conditions listed…  which we are working through some of throughout our times together.    The summary of these things though is to live holy, righteously and blamelessly before the Father, in a lifestyle of obedience and total submission to His Word and His Will, to have invested the time in developping an ear to hear the Father’s diretions plainly and consistently, to have utterly (past tense) crucified the flesh and its appetites,  being willing to lay down any part of our life for His,  and living as a bond servant (motivated by thanksgiving and unfeigned love) to the Most High.  Few, if any,  are willing to pay this cost.   In other words, it costs absolutely everything to become who He has created us to be.   BUT He is worthy, He is the pearl worth selling all for.

 

This question is absolutely one of the best invitations I know of that an unbeliever can extend to us as believer to share the gospel with them.   It gives us the opportunity to share the key truths and foundational teachings of the Bible and to potentially see many lies exposed and heart wounds healed in the person who has asked.

Short answer:  I believe that  sin and Satan take advantage of God’s good laws to manipulate and control people, in some cases virtually like puppets.     Again, let’s explore this all the while keeping in mind the two parts to the answer.   The biblical evidence for this and then how to express this to a non-believer.

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First point:   God has perfect integrity and is incapable of breaking His own commandments or laws upon which He has established all of Creation.

In our main scripture pack , we have now read a LOT of verses that talk about God’s integrity and how He never revokes or goes against anything He has decreed in His Word.

Psalm 138:2 King James Bible “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”

As the perfectly just Judge, He enforces and upholds every word.  We might not be able to perceive this in every case

Proverbs 30:5-6 English Standard Version (ESV) “5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.  6 Do not add to his words,  lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”

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2nd Point:   God delegated the bringing the world into subjection and dominion of the Earth to Adam and Eve and their offspring…  In other words, to mankind.

Genesis 1 ESV “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  27 So God created man in his own image,  in the image of God he created him;  male and female he created them.  28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Strong’s subdue = “כָּבַשׁ kâbash, kaw-bash’; a primitive root; to tread down; hence, negatively, to disregard; positively, to conquer, subjugate, violate:—bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection.”  from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3533&t=KJV

dominion = “רָדָה râdâh, raw-daw’; a primitive root; to tread down, i.e. subjugate; specifically, to crumble off:—(come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule,(-r, over), take.”

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3rd Point:  Satan covetted the power that God had and saw an opportunity to obtain it when God did this.   Enter sin into the picture.    We see that sin and Satan team of thorns popping up everywhere from this point forward.

Isaiah 14 KJV” ¹² How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  ¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:  ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  ¹⁵ Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.  ¹⁶ They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;¹⁷ That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?”

In this verse we see a lot of information about Satan.  We see that Lucifer/Satan fell from heaven.  That he longed to be like God and that His end will be the pit.   But we also see that he made the earth to tremble and shook the kingdoms and make the world a wilderness, destroyed cities AND kept prisoners.   AND YET at the end of the day, there will be a big shock to see how insignificant and how something of such low stature and power could have done these things.    We need to keep in mind always that his present status is publicly shamed and disarmed and beaten foe.   His tactics are plainly exposed in the Word and the means to defeat Him available to all who will take the time to study and learn how to ealk in them.   Jesus has already triumphed over him.  He has been tried and sentenced and his time remaining on earth is finite but his sentence has not yet been carried out in full.   When it is he will be blotted out from God’s creation altogether. 

Colossians 2:13-15 New American Standard Bible (NASB) “13 When you were dead [a]in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had [b]disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through [c]Him.16 ”

James 4:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB) “7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

Key point:   The first and most essential part of driving back the devil and going on the offensive against him, is submitting to God.   Back a few weeks when I was talking about the “courts of heaven” I emphasized my beliefs that we need to come before the Righteous Judge having taken the care to purify our hearts and be washed of any known sin issues out of reverence.   

The word submit here from the Strong’s means “ὑποτάσσω hypotássō, hoop-ot-as’-so; from G5259 and G5021; to subordinate; reflexively, to obey:—be under obedience (obedient), put under, subdue unto, (be, make) subject (to, unto), be (put) in subjection (to, under), submit self unto.”   The word resist = “ἀνθίστημι anthístēmi, anth-is’-tay-mee; from G473 and G2476; to stand against, i.e. oppose:—resist, withstand.”  flee = “φεύγω pheúgō, fyoo’-go; apparently a primary verb; to run away (literally or figuratively); by implication, to shun; by analogy, to vanish:—escape, flee (away).”   Our positioning when come in opposition against the devil is to be one of being subject to, walking in obedience to the Lord.    It is a pre-req to resisting the devil and having Him flee from us.   

Ezekiel 28:12-19 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE) “12 Son of man, raise a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God:  [a] You were a seal of perfection, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty. 13 In Eden, the garden of God, you lived;
precious stones of every kind were your covering: Carnelian, topaz, and beryl, chrysolite, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, garnet, and emerald. Their mounts and settings were wrought in gold, fashioned for you the day you were created. 14 With a cherub I placed you; I put you on the holy mountain of God,[b]  where you walked among fiery stones.
15 Blameless were you in your ways from the day you were created, Until evil was found in you. 16 Your commerce was full of lawlessness, and you sinned. Therefore I banished you from the mountain of God;  the cherub drove you out from among the fiery stones. 17 Your heart had grown haughty because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. I cast you to the ground, I made you a spectacle in the sight of kings.  18 Because of the enormity of your guilt,  and the perversity of your trade, you defiled your sanctuary.  I brought fire out of you;  it devoured you;  I made you ashes on the ground in the eyes of all who see you.  19 All the nations who knew you are appalled on account of you;  You have become a horror,  never to be again.”

Satan was originally created to be good and lived in Eden.   He was created good but somehow he grew into something else..  One theory (did I stress that this is a theory?)is that God had intentionally put this good Lucifer (anointed cherub) in the garden to serve and minister to Adam and Eve but when he saw what God had given him, this jealousy and sin awoke in him.   Sin entered into his own heart (which was susceptible due to the vastness of his wisdom and vanity in his great beauty, in a way he had turned to self worship).  If you have ever wondered why God put an evil angel in the garden with Adam and Eve, this would answer that question.   This would mean what we are seeing is the tipping point for Satan too.   This may well have been the moment described in Ezekiel where sin was discovered in Satan and he was cast down.   So what Genesis is describing may well be the fall of not only Adam and Eve but of Satan too.     We witness Adam and Eve being expelled in Genesis, but we hear in the verses above that Satan was cast down after sin was found in him.

Note that Satan chose the most subtle creature to tempt Adam and Eve through.    Scripture plainly tells us that we are slaves to whoever we obey.   Via manipulation and temptation, we see the moment that Adam and Eve became subject to Satan who is really subject to sin.   We see this play out again in the next generation.

Genesis 4:7 HCSB  “In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? And why do you look despondent?[c] 7 If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

 

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4th point Sin and Satan are god of this world in this present age and everyone who is in disobedience to God and His Word are slaves to these things

Scripture spells it out plainly in the verses below.    Sin/Satan have dominion over the world in this present age.  The word sin  makes for an excellent Word study.  Some translations go so far as to give sin a  capital  letter implying that sin is a being and not just a thing. 

2 Corinthians 4:4 HCSB “In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  The NLT version actually names the god of this world to be Satan

NLT “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

Romans 6:15-19 New International Version (NIV) “15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.”

Colossians 1:9-14 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)  “9 Therefore, from the day we heard this, we do not cease praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding 10 to live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, 11 strengthened with every power, in accord with his glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy 12 [a]giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. 13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The default setting for everyone born into this world is to be born under the power/dominion of darkness.   Only in believing and receiving Jesus can we be delivered and transferred into His Kingdom.

Key points:   Satan has no power of his own.   He has been disarmed.  The only power he has left is via manipulation and control.    He is the master string puller, the puppet master of all people who walk in disobedience against God.    He succeeds not in getting people to do exactly what he wants, but in getting people to not hearken to or obey God.  He uses the power and dominion and authority that God has given to people against us.  As believers, we can cut off all the strings by hearkening to, (being in the Word and intimate relationship with God)) and meditating on His Word, and by walking in obedience to His statutes and leadings.   Jesus has ransomed us and restored to us all the authority we need  to overcome. He has delivered us from the dominion (being dominated by) the kingdom of darkness and freed us to serve in the Kingdom of the Son.

Luke 10:18-20 New American Standard Bible (NASB) “18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 New American Standard Bible (NASB) “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

Romans 6:13 King James Version (KJV) “13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

Key Point:  Do not yield your body parts (this verse “ties” in powerfully with the image of Satan as a puppet master), do not let him pull your strings.   Submit and yield only to God.

How do I leverage this knowledge?   Most people can relate to the cartoons they saw as children where the character had an angel sitting on one shoulder telling them to do what was right and a little devil on the other prompting them to do what was wrong.   It is an iconic image in the minds of most.   And if they are honest in the least, they will be able to admit that this is part of their experience.    “Have you ever had one of those moments where you could hear the two sides in your own head?  I have, far too often.   I knew what to do that was the right thing but chose to do the wrong thing anyways because it felt so satisfying at the time to do it.”   Maybe it happens to them when they are arguing with a loved one or a child and they find words that they don’t believe or agree with pouring out of their mouths.   Perhaps, they have an addiction that no matter how hard they try, the addiction seems to win.   Perhaps, they are living a secret life and are doing things that they know to be wrong but presenting a facade of moralityand uprightness.   The reality is everyone has skeletons in their closet and or big regrets from times when they listened to the wrong voice.     They don’t have to admit anything, just bringing up the question will bring to their remembrance that this is true in them.

“I spent my whole life trying to live up to an image of who I should be in my head, all the while failing and doing the very things I was bent on avoiding… over and over and over again.    When I read the Bible, I found the answers to almost all of the questions my heart had been asking for ages but no one seemed able to answer…..    I finally make sense, the world finally makes sense, it really isn’t random, and there really are answers.   I found my answers here, and would be happy to share with you what I have found if you are interested.”

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5th point.   Adapt the message to the capacity of our audience and recognize the spiritual nature of the conversation.  Our testimonies are powerful in these situations.

So in talking with a citizen of the present age who is presently subject to sin and Satan as the rulers of their hearts and lives, who is potentially blind and deaf to spiritual truths, we need wisdom and knowledge to understand how to speak truth into their lives in a way that they can actually hear it.     You have all heard me pray this so so many times, I very often pray this under my breath or out loud whenever possible before engaging in these types of conversations.  “Would you mind if i prayed a little prayer? God if you are out there, would you help us both to see what we need to see and hear what we need to hear and to find the answers that we are looking for to this question?  In Jesus name”  Most won’t object to this.

2 Timothy 2:25-26 King James Version (KJV) “25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

In the Amplified:

2 Timothy 2:24-26 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)”24 And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome (fighting and contending). Instead, he must be kindly to everyone and mild-tempered [preserving the bond of peace]; he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing to suffer wrong.  25 He must correct his opponents with courtesy and gentleness, in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and come to know the Truth [that they will perceive and recognize and become accurately acquainted with and acknowledge it]…”

This verse is wonderful as it gives us amazing advice of how not to trigger the defensive, shut down, get offended and run away response that is so easy to trigger.   I have watched in awe and wonder as God has been developping these things in me.   I still fall short and communicate poorly at times, BUT I have grown by leaps and bounds from where I started.

Revelation 12:11 New American Standard Bible (NASB) “11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even [a]when faced with death.”

Key Points:  Potentially, this would actually be an excellent time to take someone’s situation before the “courts of heaven” and ask for a “stay” on the spiritual blindness and deafness part of the judgments the person you want to share with is possibly under.   Remember that the god of this world has blinded them in  many cases lawfully.   It can be extremely beneficial to have bound him and have him out of the picture when sharing these things.  The blood of the lamb is what allows us to be effective intercessors and opposition to the devil as we saw in the verse further up in this post.   Our testimony is also part of the equation.   Do note that I intentionally refer to my own testimony often.

So going back to the playdough analogy…   We know that some part of them recognizes that God created them to be good and Holy, that this part of them longs for redemption.   We also know that the truth is written on their hearts and that all of creation is witnessing to them that God is for real.  They are part of God’s creation, part of them is witnessing to them that God is real.  So we speak earnestly to that part and water and encourage that part, we strengthen them and use the power of our words to speak over them the truth of who they really are.   Here are the things I am mindful of but not able to practise consistently yet.

1. I try to prepare my heart  to SOW only  and to be on guard against the need to convince.   I share scripture with the mindset of a sower sowing perfect and incorruptible seed.    Nowadays we have made planting seeds an science which requires precision, equipment and human knowledge.  Sowing is much simpler, you grab a handful of seeds and (still with skill) throw it in a way that distributes it somewhat evenly.   It falls where it falls and the sower knows that some of the seed will take (wherever it falls in the right place and right kind of soil) and some, even a large measure of the seed will not thrive.   But our seed supply is limitless so we can joyfully sow knowing that other opportunities will come, other sowers will come and that the seed will never fail.    In Timothy we see this expressed in the words that we must not be quarrelsome or contentious.   I do not sow seed with a need to convince others.  Actually the less I say the better.  The moment I hit the slightest indication of offense or hardness, I change topics and move on.  The moment I try to force the seed into another person, they tend to put up higher walls and greater defenses as they actually feel assaulted by such an approach.   Sometime immediately almost always eventually, they will put up such high walls that I will have lost all opportunity to share the Word with them.
2. I view debates and arguments as harmful and not beneficial.  The moment I catch myself in one of these I try to apologize….   ” I am so sorry,  I appreciate and value our “friendship” too much to debate.   We are all still learning and I have so much more to learn about these things.   Thank God the truth is out there and I believe that we both really want the same things…”  this is an opportunity to speak blessings over them.   “I appreciate/admire your ________________ and know that you long for ________________ (justice, kindness, peace, the best for the world, the best for your children, the best for your husband, healing) in the world.  Thanks for stirring up my own heart.   Whatever the answer is, your right, it is something worth pursuing.”
3. If the door remains open to discussion, then I keep the words in Timothy at the forefront of my mind, with gentleness, and meekness and respect trying to engage them with things like …. “Ooooohhhh, excellent point..  what about this________?  Have you considered this_________________?  Do you know, I know it seems counter-intuitive but this is how I have seen that play out when I applied scripture to that situation?”.  “I don’t know, I would have to think on that, it is a really really great question.  What do you think about it?”
4. Always exit the topic graciously and with kindness and love.

My life speaks louder than any words I will ever say.   If I live in hypocrisy saying one thing but living otherwise, every word I speak loses power.   So aiming to maintain a lifestyle of availability and flexibility (leaving enough margin so that when someone needs help I can say YES), and of integrity (honesty and consistently doing what is good and right) are the core things that give my words credibility.  I chaffs people when we aim to live set apart and Holy lives because some part of them knows that this is right and good and our choice to live in this way is convicting.    But  living a lifestyle of rightouesness is the very thing that actually gives weight to our words and testimonies.

Proverbs 22:1 ESV “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,  and favor is better than silver or gold”

1 Timothy 3:7 ESV “7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

Blessings on you all.   Isn’t God so good?   I love waking up in the morning knowing that He is transforming me from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7)an from glory to glory.

 

2 Corinthians 3:18 New American Standard Bible  “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.”

On Tuesday we are on page 7 Psalm 19:9-11  and on Thursday p.8 Ephesians 5:26-27.

Our last meetings for this Session will be ending on August 6th and 8th.

I am looking forward to hearing this week what the Lord has been revealing to everyone.  Do let me know if you want a hard copy of any of the website posts.   This is always an option, I just need to get the requests in to the church or make copies here for you depending on the number requested.

Some thoughts on having one extra meeting for some especially “hot topics”

I was thinking about our last 20 minute topics.  This week I was thinking we would do the “spirit, soul and body” one if nothing else comes up as it is something  that I think radically changed my understanding and helped scripture make more sense.    I also realized that there are some topics that are just so “out there” that these are perhaps best saved for one on one, or in smaller groups where there is sincere interest in such things.   I think all scripture is essential and that there is a time and  a place to explore all of it.  I am going to try to stick to topics that have ready application for most for now and create occasional opportunities for people to have a forum to discuss the things that I would call “grey areas” and extremely “hot topics”.

I am happy to host a “t-bone” session (come prepared to separate between the meat and the bones and resist debating)the 13th in the morning at our regular time.  This will be for those topics like end times, heaven and hell,  and even what I mentioned last week about the possibility of being set so free that we no longer sin.  These are topics that when some of us hear them we automatically shut down and tune out from, understandably so.     I realize that these are so far out there for many as to potentially be offensive and/or highly confusing.   For me, many of these fall in the category of ” I cannot be 100% sure about that so would not teach on or come to a conclusive conclusion on”.   But I also know there are some who long to have a place to explore these things with others.      My own knowledge on these is limited so I would come to facilitate and to hear things I have perhaps never heard before and then challenge myself to go back to the Word and see what I see for myself.  If there is interest, I am willing.  The only thing that I ask is that if you do want to share on something, please let me know what topic an prepare a scripture packet with some verses to share with others so that we can see what you want to talk about with scripture in front of our eyes.   If we pick one to three topics to limit ourselves to, then people can decide if that is something they would like to explore together with others.  I would like to emphasize, that this session will not appeal to everyone, so do consider the topics mentioned and decide if it is for you or not.  AND that the goal is not to establish doctrine, but simply to explore scriptures that are often left unexplored.

I was thinking this week about my Dad.   He does not know the Lord yet and yet, God has used Him so many times to speak into my life with powerful truths that I had missed.   Truly God has poured out His goodness on all of creation.   How encouraging to know that our faithful Heavenly Father surrounds us with opportunities to learn and increase in our wisdom and knowledge of Him.   Of course, our focus is on the Word of God, but I was reminded this week to always keep an eye out for the divine wisdom that is imparted to us through others.  Father I pray that we would remain or be released into true humility so that we can love with unfeigned love those around us and be released from all judgments.   Scripture tells us only Jesus never erred.   Let our hearts remain hopeful for redemption of every broken situation, giving one another room to have some things right and some things wrong and trust that you will sort us all out,  and thereby be really free to catch those marvelous glimpse of You in every part of your marvelous creation.  No matter how far someone seems to be from the Lord in our eyes, His fingerprints on that life some where.   Oh I long for eyes to see it every time and to encourage each one.  In the name of our Precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

 

This question came up this week.  It is a fairly common thing to hear from those we know and care about to ask about God and a reason why many don’t care to get to know God.  Please do let me know if this answer makes sense as it is a HUGE question and can feel intimidating to answer.

The verse that we were talking about at the time.

Psalm 105:7 “He is the LORD our God. His justice is seen throughout the land.”    I will come back to this for the second half.

I would tend to say this is  a two part answer because there is a scripture based answers that the believer can understand and then there is an applying of this and changing the wording so that someone who does not have the Holy Spirit and God can relate to the Truth in a way that makes sense to them.

First, let’s consider the perspective/lens that most unbelievers are seeing the world through.    Although they may label it in many different ways, those have rejected God as Lord have really chosen themselves as god of their universe.   They may believe in something, but that something really is just an outward excuse for them to live according to their own values, sense of right and wrong and justice.   In their minds, they are in control of their lives and what they believe therefore governs them.   Scripture tells us plainly that they cannot understand.   Without the help of the Holy Spirit, this is the truth as only He can enable them to overcome this human limitation and truly understand the things of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12-15 English Standard Version (ESV)  “12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.[a]14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.”

Most people relate very well to things that pertain to themselves, as most are self-centered to some degree.   So when speaking with an unbeliever, I usually try to find something that is likely part of their personal experience (as they can fully relate to that) and tie this into the question they are asking.   This is my central approach in “witnessing” about the Kingdom.

Here is what this might sound like when I am sharing with someone.

“Do you remember a time in your life when things were more simple, that you had more joy and peace?  Do you remember a time when you felt truly content?”  Many will answer yes and that was something they recalled having as a young child.  “Do you still have that same joy and peace today?”  Answers vary…

Next I share about my experience and relate it to theirs.   “I remember, vaguely albeit, feeling these things a long time ago.   I don’t know about you, but I have found, with each passing year, each movie, each experience, there was something that I could feel and experience as a young innocent child that I just didn’t feel anymore.   I look at my 2 year old and 4 year old and it takes so little to make them happy.   There is something so powerful in that innocence.   Do you ever wonder why or if it is possible to somehow regain that thing that we had and lost along the way?”  At this point I usually share my testimony of being healed of Crohn’s disease because there is power in our testimony and that was a supernatural humanly impossible feat.    It is not essential but tangible and real.    “Just bear with me for a minute here… I am going to try to explain how I understand it and see if you relate as well as honestly, the question you have asked is an excellent one, and I think one that every person who has a heart of compassion needs an answer to.    It is also a big question, and one worth seeking out.”

Enter in my playdough analogy.   “Picture that I am handing you a ball of white playdough, pure white playdough and that I have a ball myself.    Now make a little bowl in your playdough.  And let’s add a few drops of green and red food colouring” (just as an fyi I have done this with playdough and food colouring and those two colours together make this putrid black, brown yucky colour) “and then carefully seal up our playdough, sealing the dye inside.   The Bible says that everyone is created to be very good (the white playdough) but that at birth, each baby receives a generational curse for the sins of their forefathers going back 3 to 4 generations. (The food colouring).  Now start mushing that ball of playdough together and the dye hiding in the middle quickly starts to come out.   So even they look super innocent, right at conception, this sin thing is passed on.  Most people know about the story of Adam and eve eating the forbidden fruit.   This is the legacy of that first sinful act.    Now the womb is not a neutral environment at all.  Whatever that mom eats and drinks affects the baby, whatever traumas etc that mom experiences or spiritual things she encounters, that baby is right there going through them in some measure too.  A lot of these mean another drop of food colouring, further exposure to sin and hurt and pains.  So at birth, the ball is noticeably less white.   ”

“As we go through our growing up years… we witness some inappropriate attitudes on the tv and among our friends, we experience judgements, cast judgements, learn to lie, talk back to our parents etc… more drops…  In highschool, opportunities abound to choose our own paths instead of God’s..  Looking back I can things pretty clearly.   I was convinced that I was a good person, that I had strong values and that I could hold my own.   If you are anything  like I was, by the end of university, my playdough was looking pretty goopy and messy… ”

“Just imagine your playdough infused with 100-500 more drops of food colouring and you will get the picture pretty clearly.   What do you see?   YUP, a gooey ucky mess.   That is what we can see.   Here is the AWESOME amazing news.    God looks at me and you and see white playdough and foodcolouring.    He sees the very good person He created and the sin that has latched on to His creation.   He never loses sight of who we really are and always wants us to be free to enjoy this.   He hates beyond human comprehension the sin that is holding us captive and is the only being in all of Creation that is capable of removing not only the sin but the stain of sin and make us white as snow again.    This  has been my experience.   13 years ago I met God by reading His Word, not through church, not through a person, but by reading the book He wrote for Me.   And every since, I have watched in awe as He is healing my body, healing my broken heart, restoring my hope that I can live in peace, infusing my life with purpose, meaning and joy and helping me to get over all the things that I tried and tried and tried to move past on my own for years to no avail.   This is one of the reasons I am passionate about God and long for everyone I love to experience the same freedom, restoration, happiness and health that have come into my life by getting to know God for who He really is. ”

“But here is the thing, scripture says that God is the source of all goodness, of all blessings, of all the things that the human hearts desperately wants and needs.   It also says that the land that we live in is either blessed or cursed based on our relationship with Him.   The state of the world around us is nothing more than a mirror reflecting the status of the relationship between God and  the people who occupy it.  There is simply no way to walk with His blessing on our homes, lives, children, land and country if we have rejected Him as He is the source of all goodness.      Bad things happening is actually really just the absence.      So at the end of the day, we are basically saying, I want the benefits, but I don’t want to commit to the relationship.   ”

God is God and He is perfectly just.    So regardless of how good WE feel about ourselves and our ability to live in a moral and just way, He is comparing our lives, to His Word and His definition of what GOOD and righteous living means.   Friend, honestly, I have read this book cover to cover many times now…  the bottom line is while we might feel pretty good about who we are when we compare ourselves to each other, it will only take a few passages in this book to make us realize that we are falling radically short to the requirements of goodness that are spelled out in detail in here.  ”

God is incorruptible and has perfect integrity, He is absolutely honest and faithful to do all that He says.    He never bends the rules, accepts a bribe or overturns the law, He cannot be deceived nor swayed in any way.   He upholds it perfectly 100% of the time.     This is a very good thing as we all know that a corrupt judge means no protection for anyone.   He is enforcing His Law, His commandments and as Creator, the supernatural and natural laws on which He framed all of Creation.  I think we can all understand that if we break a law in ignorance, especially willfull ignorance, that a righteous judge will still enforce the law and penalty accordingly.”

“I believe this is why we have the Bible.   This is why I LOVE this book.  God has taken the time to spell out in detail everything.. Not only that but He has promised to literally transform us and empower us and equip us and enable us to live according to His ways simply by prioritizing, reading and meditating on His Word and letting Him in.     Not only does it teach me, and correct me, and empower me to keep His Word, but it also gives me wisdom, hope, healing, restores to me my identity, my purpose, my joy, and my very life.   Creation, just like every single one of us is longing to be free from the rule of sin and Satan and to be what God created it to be.”

Matthew 6:32-34 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)  “32 For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all.  33 But seek ([a]aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness ([b]His way of doing and being right), and then all these things [c]taken together will be given you besides.  34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.”

Romans 8:18-25 The Passion Translation (TPT)”18 I am convinced that any suffering we endure is less than nothing compared to the magnitude of glory[a] that is about to be unveiled within us.[b] 19 The entire universe is standing on tiptoe,[c] yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious[d] sons and daughters! 20 For against its will the universe itself has had to endure the empty futility[e] resulting from the consequences of human sin. But now, with eager expectation, 21 all creation longs for freedom from its slavery to decay and to experience with us the wonderful freedom coming to God’s children. 22 To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. 23 And it’s not just creation. We who have already experienced the firstfruits of the Spirit[f] also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God’s sons and daughters—including our physical bodies being transformed. 24 For this is the hope of our salvation.But hope means that we must trust and wait for what is still unseen. For why would we need to hope for something we already have? 25 So because our hope is set on what is yet to be seen, we patiently keep on waiting for its fulfillment.”

The cumulative effect of living in a sin filled world had left a pretty deep impact.  I was very sick physically, my values and self-worth had plummetted and I had lost so much of my joy and peace.     I made choices that I regretted, and lived a 2 faced life, hiding the reality of me behind a facade of a smiling face and a can do attitude.   But my health gave the real story away.  I had lost myself and didn’t even really know who I was because I was so busy trying to be someone else.   My medical prognosis was poor which only aggravated my self-worth and the worth that the world placed on me.   So I was stuck with no way out.

The thing is scripture says that the blessings of life and life abundantly are a byproduct of a thriving relationship with God.   Scripture says that are health and well being are so dependent on this relationship and that even our physical bodies and minds need time with God and His Word in the same way that we need food and water and air.   Ya ya, but what has that got to do with the state of the world.    The Bible also says that blessings and curses follow people in the measure that they listen to and obey and live in relationship with God.   The world literally mirrors the spiritual health of the people who live here.   When people are walking with God, this opens the doors for blessings to be poured out on the land.  In a way, people are like the tap.  When we are turned on through a relationship with God, the land is showered with blessings.  When we are turned off, the land suffers from drought and blights and natural disasters.   When we are turned on, we sow kindness and love and goodness, and these things come back to us and the land shaken down, pressed down and overflowing.   When we speak and act otherwise, we get the opposite.  At the end of the day, the state of the world around us is simply a reflection of the spiritual health of the people who inhabit it.

The most simple way I can put it.

God is the source of all goodness and blessing.  Wherever God is welcomed and received goodness and blessings abound.

Evil and “badness” is simply the absence of God and His goodness and blessings.   Wherever God is rejected, destruction, evil and brokenness are the substance of the void that is left in His absence.  To exclude God is to exclude His benefits.

PART 2 The answer for believers:

So considering our original verse…  “God’s judgments are in all the earth”

This scripture says plainly that God’s justice is presently seen all through the land.   Regardless of whether or not that we know/that this is true, it is happening.  Scripture tells us over and over again the land itself was affected by the sin of the people.  Just picture the 10 plagues that hit Egypt.    Or think of the story we talked about when Elijah was directed by God to curse the land with drought.  We could work back all through the stories of the Bible  and see this truth playing out in so many ways.    We also see His blessings overtake the land of those who walk after the Lord (see Exodus 8).  We see this in the story of Abraham and Lot, and even though Abraham got the seemingly “poorer” part of the deal when they chose which portion of the land they would get, his family and flocks positively thrived and muliplied there abundantly provided for under the blessing of God.  Lot on the other hand was drawn into the culture and practice of Sodom and Gomorrah in some measure and he reaped the loss of his wife and the assault of his daughters (see Genesis 19).  The whole nation of Judah was taken captive as a direct result of their disobedience and lived as slaves as a result of their following their own ways instead of reverencing God as Lord (Jeremiah 20:4)

Numbers 14:21-23 King James Version (KJV) “21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.  22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;  23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:”

Here is the big problem.   People in their minds are generally operating on a false definition of sin.   Most think to sin is to do something obviously evil.   Generally, there is enough common knowledge that the 10 commandments are sin but even there, they don’t really believe it.   Most believe that it is good to tell a white lie in order not to hurt someone’s feelings.   Many would never consider gossip to be a sin, where God calls gossip murder with the tongue.

Scripture defines sin differently.  Sin is simply not listening to and obeying God.   If we are not listening to God, we can pretty much guarantee that we are not obeying Him, and if we are not obeying Him and doing as He says, we are living sin filled lives.

It is a too common expression through the Old Testament “because you did not hearken ” to the Lord, such and such a consequence will follow.

This was true in the very beginning of sin…   Here is the account from Genesis and confirmation that the ground was cursed from then on because of their sin.

Genesis 3:17-19 King James Version (KJV)  “17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

I think it is good to never forget that sin entered the world not because Adam and Eve murdered, or some other heinous act…  all they did was eat a piece of fruit that God said not to.    I have 4 children…  eating forbidden food is not something that WE typically think of as being a major sin and yet, it was THE sin that released all sin into the world.  God saw all the strings attached to that fruit.  God saw the cost that would come from Adam and Eve eating from the tree of forbidden knowledge.    When we go against God’s commands and do the things He says are bad for us, we too are reaching for knowledge and experiences with things that God tells us are unfruitful.   Our perception is simply not adequate to see what He sees and to understand what our simple acts of disobedience actually unleash on the world and those around us.

Here in Deuteronomy is a list of all the curses that not listening to and obeying the voice of God results in.  Do note that this is not for doing bad things but for not obeying God.   (KJV this is translated not hearkened).    Do take the time to read the blessings too for those who do hearken and obey.  They are too wonderful for words.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)  15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:  16 Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field.   17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading trough.18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your body, of your land, of the increase of your cattle and the young of your sheep.  19 Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be when you go out.  20 The Lord shall send you curses, confusion, and rebuke in every enterprise to which you set your hand, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your doings by which you have forsaken me [Moses and God as one].  21 The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land into which you go to possess.  22 The Lord will smite you with consumption, with fever and inflammation, fiery heat, sword and drought, blasting and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish.  23 The heavens over your head shall be brass and the earth under you shall be iron.  24 The Lord shall make the rain of your land powdered soil and dust; from the heavens it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.  25 The Lord shall cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and you shall be tossed to and fro and be a terror among all the kingdoms of the earth. [Fulfilled in II Chron. 29:8.]  26 And your dead body shall be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.  7 The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and the tumors, the scurvy and the itch, from which you cannot be healed.  28 The Lord will smite you with madness and blindness and dismay of [mind and] heart.  29 And you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness. And you shall not prosper in your ways; and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to save you.  30 You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall lie with her; you shall build a house, but not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but not gather its grapes.  31 Your ox shall be slain before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be violently taken away before your face and not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to help you.   32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall look and fail with longing for them all the day; and there shall be no power in your hands to prevent it. [Fulfilled in II Chron. 29:9.]  33 A nation which you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your land and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, [Fulfilled in Judg. 6:1-6; 13:1.]   34 So that you shall be driven mad by the sights which your eyes shall see.   35 The Lord will smite you on the knees and on the legs with a sore boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.   36 The Lord shall bring you and your king whom you have set over you to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall [be forced to] serve other gods, of wood and stone. [Fulfilled in II Kings 17:4, 6; 24:12, 14; 25:7, 11; Dan. 6:11, 12.]  37 And you shall become an amazement, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples to which the Lord will lead you.   38 You shall carry much seed out into the field and shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. [Fulfilled in Hag. 1:6.]   39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them but shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.   40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory but you shall not anoint yourselves with the oil, for your olive trees shall drop their fruit.   41 You shall beget sons and daughters but shall not enjoy them, for they shall go into captivity. [Fulfilled in Lam. 1:5.]   42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground shall the locust possess. [Fulfilled in Joel 1:4.]    43 The transient (stranger) among you shall mount up higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.  44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.  45 All these curses shall come upon you and shall pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.  46 They shall be upon you for a sign [of warning to other nations] and for a wonder, and upon your descendants forever.”

Deuteronomy 29:26-28 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
“26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not [a]allotted to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’”

Isaiah 24:5-6 New International Version (NIV)  “5 The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.  Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”

Not knowing and believing in God and serving other gods is ample cause to bring on all the curses listed.  This week we read a verse about being ALWAYS mindful of His covenant…   When we begin to see what our lives and choices can trigger we understand why this is truly essential counsel

There is simply no way to walk in obedience to God without accepting His Lordship and tuning our ears and hearts to truly hear and obey Him.    This is why relationship with Him and time in His Word are non-negociables for walking in His blessings.

Isaiah 5:19-21 King James Version (KJV)  “19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!  20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!”

Romans 1:20-32 New American Standard Bible (NASB)  “20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not [a]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [b]crawling creatures.  24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for [c]a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed [d]forever. Amen.  26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [e]unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [f]indecent acts and receiving in [g]their own persons the due penalty of their error.28 And just as they did not see fit [h]to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, [i]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

 

I believe in speaking with unbelievers that it is also helpful to sandwich the hard bits between messages of hope and an invitation to restoration.

Beginning the conversation with something like:   “Wow, that is a great question.   I have wrestled with it myself.   I think about it often.    I think it is an essential question and one that shows that most people inwardly groan and hurt to see all the evil in the world.     I agree with you.   I know it might surprise you but the Bible actually gives really good as to why it is this way and how to make it right again….

 

At the end, I try to always bring it back to God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Psalm 69:33 New Living Translation (NLT) “33 For the Lord hears the cries of the needy;
he does not despise his imprisoned people.”

2 Peter 3:9 NLT “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

Ezekiel 22:29-31 English Standard Version (ESV) “29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

God literraly searches the whole earth to find someone willing to pray and to send as a minister of reconciliation in His desire to see each and everyone redeemed and restored.  But leaves the ultimate choice to each one to accept his invitation or decline it.

An example of my closing remarks:  “But here is the thing….  God loved Adam and Eve so much, that even after they sinned, God set in motion a way for them to be reconciled.   He promised them that one would come out of their generational line who could make things right again.   Who would pay the penalty for their sins and the sins of all mankind.     His perfect Justice requires that someone pays the penalty in full.   And this is why Jesus is absolutely essential to everyone’s being restored.  The penalty for all sin (including eating forbidden fruit) is death.    Jesus came and led a completely sinless life and then died the most horrendous kind of death to stand in for me, to stand in for you and to pay the full  penalty of what our sins have ushered over our lives.    God loves us so much that He was willing to send Jesus to takes the scourging we deserved (to break the yoke of sickness and death over our physical bodies), to take the crown of thorns (the mental anguish) that knowing good and evil pulled into this world,  and died a horrible death on the cross so that the legal requirement that anyone who sins will surely die was satisfied.     Truly God is perfectly just but He is also perfectly good.    He loves you.   He sees you for who you really are.   He is the one who put that goodness in you, that goodness that sees all that is wrong in the world and cries out screams “NO THIS IS NOT HOW IT WAS MEANT TO BE” and He longs to make it right more than you or I can possibly imagine.    He misses you.  He wants to talk with you, to heal all the broken places in your heart and body and mind.   He absolultely adores you.  He made you for so so so much more and there is a part of you that knows this.   I truly believe there is a hole in every human heart that only He can fill.   Just know that you can never be too far gone for Him…    I didn’t believe any of this until I was 30 years old.   I hit a crisis that forced me to seek out the thing I needed to fill that hole.   I know that you have to find your own answers and you might be thinking this is not my answer.   But go, oh do go and find the thing that fills this hole in your heart… and if you cannot find it anywhere else know that He is waiting for you with infinite love and patience to come home to Him.   I can tell you that my own playdough has been getting whiter and whiter and that hole in my heart has been filled.

A few years ago,  my mom died of cancer.   It was a hard time for all of us.    She was sick for 2 years and only once did God prompt me to tell her about Him and His Kingdom.

We had had a long winter with my husband fighting the flu on and off again for most of the winter.   Not wanting to expose my mom, we were unable to visit her much during her last months.   When we finally did make it down, my dad said to me:  “I am so glad you came, now the picture is complete, we are all together.  Without you here, there is a hole”… My dad’s words echoing in my heart, I realized that my Mom was God’s child, His creation, before she was anybody else’s. That He was going to miss her for all of eternity if she didn’t come home. That it didn’t matter what had gone on from the moment she entered this word (out of his immediate and complete protective care) to the moment she would go home, that as a loving Father, He would always miss her and there would always be a hole, a sense of incompleteness if she wasn’t there. No, it wasn’t a condemning, lecturing, angry Father waiting for her but a loving Father, an infinitely patient Father, a Father who was longing to hug, to console and comfort, to shelter and to protect and heal from all pain and suffering she had experienced during her time here on earth…   I was undone by His love.   It felt like I was hearing  the gospel myself for the first time.

This picture is etched in my brain and I know this same invitation is one He is extending to every person I meet and know.

If the person who asked this question is a parent, this testomony is a wonderful way for them to relate to the Father’s love.   They know that ultimately they do not control their kids and they can relate to the pain they feel as parents when they see their children making choices that usher in pain and even devastation.   Many can also relate to being the parent who longs to have their child home and safe and to be there to help bind up all the brokenness that they experienced out “there”.

I share these things knowing that we are all unique and the answers we give will come coloured by our lives and personalities, which is just such a wonderful and powerful thing.  God bless you all as you find your answers to these tough questions and God reveals His heart to you in a way that helps you express His to others.

During the meetings, I did mention where Satan fits into all of this.  I will do that part in a separate post.  Blessings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings on you as you spend time with our precious Lord..    This week we are starting from  page 7 , 1 Chronicles 16,  on both Tuesday and Thursday.   On Tuesday we talked about how to answer the question “If God is good, than why are all these horrible things happening in the world?”     I will put some verses together on that one but of course it is a huge kettle of fish and one that we truly need the help of the Holy Spirit to answer in any measure.

Just a heads up that we likely tighten up our lens a bit starting next week.   Praise God, we are establishing a wonderful foundation, building up some powerful Truth, being washed with His Word and growing together in unity.   I am realizing that I potentially need to reign in our focus some (not entirely) not because what we have been doing isn’t wonderful.. but simply because logistically, I have 13 more topics and packages of scripture that are equally as exciting and jam packed with amazing things that have transformed my life and I think will equip others with keys and understanding.   Let’s talk about it this week and see how we are all feeling about this.

We have over 75 highlighted verses to read together yet for this topic.   Please pray with me that we will find the right balance and that I will be able to reign myself in.

Think of the Word as a precious metals and gem mine…     Our main focus is of course Jesus and His Kingdom, but for this study we are also specifically targetting the verses that will helpus receive healing and help us to minister to others.

Here is a list of the future topics:

2 Miracles and Healings in Scripture

3 Identity:  Who I really am In Christ

4 What Jesus has done (The Finished Work) and Is Doing

5 One anothering: Caring, Serving and Loving Biblicallly

6 Weeds to Uproot:  All About Sin

7 Faith on a Doable Scale

8 Our Thoughts and our Words

9 Weeds to Uproot:  The defeated foe

10 Being about The Father’s Businesss

11 Prayer and Intercession

12 Relocating:  Kingdom Living

13 The Keys of the Kingdom:  Easier Doable steps

14 The Father’s Love and Faithfulness

I am having so much fun with you all.

See you soon.

With love in Christ.

Throughout our times together, this comes up as a running theme.   There are different parts of us and these different parts are not in agreement and actually “war” against one another.    When we begin to undertand the tug of war which is happening in our mind, we can intentionally choose walking after the spirit and not after the flesh (body).

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Amplified Bible (AMP) “23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [that is, separate you from profane and vulgar things, make you pure and whole and undamaged—consecrated to Him—set apart for His purpose]; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete and [be found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 2:5-7 New King James Version (NKJV) “5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:2-4 New Century Version (NCV) 2 Yes, in the past you lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God. 3 In the past all of us lived like them, trying to please our sinful selves and doing all the things our bodies and minds wanted. We should have suffered God’s anger because we were sinful by nature. We were the same as all other people.  4 But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much.

Romans 12:1-3 King James Version (KJV) “12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God  3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Mark 12:30 King James Version (KJV) “30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

Colossians 2:17-19 New Living Translation (NLT) “7 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. 18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,[a] saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.”

Romans 1:27-29 King James Version (KJV)
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.  28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;  29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

Romans 7:22-25 King James Version (KJV)
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:  23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

From the Strong’s “μέλος mélos, mel’-os; of uncertain affinity; a limb or part of the body:—member.”   From the BlueletterBible

Romans does not tell us we are stuck and cannot be set free from sin, but rather tells us that we nee Jesus to do so.   Romans 6:14 BLB “For sin will not rule over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

Romans 8:5-6 King James Version (KJV)  “5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

Key Point:  We can see in scripture that as humans, we are torn between two desires…   One to serve the body, the physical part of us that is always demanding gratification and on the other hand, the Spirit.       It is almost like our mind is trapped between the two in this tug of war.  When we think and act according to the Spirit and the Truth, our lives produces life and life abundantly, but when we are carnally minded, death.

Matthew 16:23-25 King James Version (KJV)  “23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

Matthew 26:41 King James Version (KJV)  41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Galatians 5:24-25 “24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Key point:   The flesh very often is in control of our lives but scripture tells us that God assumes that those who are in Christ have already (past tense) crucified the flesh along with its lusts and affections.   We DO have the ability to silence and force our flesh to submit to the Spirit but this takes intentionally choosing to do so and consistently denying ourselves.   I believe one of the main reasons we are called to fast is to train our bodies to submit to our wills and spirits.

For those who want to do some more digging, here is a link to the word search of the “flesh”  as I am sure there are many more warnings about walking after the flesh and not the spirit:

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=KJV&quicksearch=flesh&begin=47&end=73&limit=500

Romans 8:16 NIV “16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

Hebrews 4:12 King James Bible “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Key Point:  The spirit and soul are distinct from one another, and the Word of God reveals this distinction and reveals the true source of our thoughts and intentions.

John 4:24 NIV ” 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Key point:  we must worship God in the Spirit and in the truth… We will never be able to truly please or obey God as long as we are primarily acting out of the mind of the body.

SO, the BIG obstacle, is that we follow our flesh and are acting in a fleshly way, the Bible promises us the end of that road is death.    If our desire is to minister effectively and powerfully to others, than we must walk after the Spirit and be spirit minded, as this road leads to life and life abundantly.   I believe this is in part why living Holy and blameless is part of what is required of the elders who God has delegated the healing and oversight ministries too.   But as always, let each one read and discern for themselves what scriptures say.  Blessings.

After our discussions this week, I realized that perhaps getting a better grasp of what scripture says about righteousness would be helpful.  I encourage those who feel called to do a full word study on this as there are many facets and pieces to this part of the puzzle.   I have shared only some of the verses as there are simply too many.    I think this is also best understood in the context that we have three distinct parts, Spirit, Soul and Body.   I will hopefully get that post up this week as well.  I will come back to this and fill in some more comments, but the scripture speaks very plainly for itself on this topic.  Blessings.  As always, Father I ask for eyes to see, and ears to hear and our understanding to be fruitful. In Jesus name.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 The Passion Translation (TPT)
20 We are ambassadors[a] of the Anointed One who carry the message of Christ to the world, as though God were tenderly pleading[b] with them directly through our lips. So we tenderly plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Turn back to God and be reconciled to him.” 21 For God made[c] the only one who did not know sin to become sin for us,[d] so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with him.[e]

Here is a link to the Biblegateway word search of “righteousness”… lots and lots of verses to be considered:

https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=KJV&quicksearch=righteousness&begin=47&end=73

Matthew 6:33 King James Version (KJV) “33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Romans 6:13-22 King James Version (KJV)” 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.  16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.  21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.  22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

Key point:  We can presently choose to yield our body parts/members to be servants of righteousness or slaves to unrighteousness.   So while by identity, at least part of us is the righteousness of God, our actions can be righteous or unrighteous.

2 Corinthians 9:9-11 New International Version (NIV) “9 As it is written:  “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;  their righteousness endures forever.”[a] 10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

Key point:  God can increase our supply and our store of seeds  and enlarge the harvest of our righteousness.    Having righteousness is not the only element.  Those who use it for God’s purposes see increase. 

Philippians 3:8-10 King James Version (KJV) “8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:  10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”

2 Timothy 3:16 King James Version (KJV) “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

Key point:  If righteousness was just about what Jesus gave to us freely and there was nothing else to add to that righteousness, than scripture would not be necessary for instruction in righteousness.  I think possibly we could say that we are given righteousness but still need to learn how to walk in it and most of us need to learn who we are now that this righteousness has been imputed to us.

Titus 3:4-6 King James Version (KJV) “4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;  6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;”

Key point:  Clearly righteousness in part is about Him and Him alone and what He has done for us.   I believe that our spirits are made fully righteous by what Jesus has done but that our minds and bodies are not…  I will discuss this in the next post.

Hebrews 5:12-14 King James Version (KJV) “12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.  13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.  14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Key point:  Through stuy and growth accomplished by knowing and being in the Word, we can become skilful in the word of righteousness and that those who are still on milk are not.    This definitely suggests to me that our effectiveness at expressing righteousness varies depending on our spiritual growth and understanding.

Hebrews 12:11 English Standard Version (ESV) “11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Key Point:  discipline, us being corrected and instructed yields the fruit of righteousness so we can have righteousness but lack fruit if we do not receive these things.

James 3:17-18 New International Version (NIV) “17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”

2 Peter 2:20-22 New American Standard Bible (NASB)”20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 [a]It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Scripture speaks so clearly…  should give us a major pause.

1 John 2:29 Amplified Bible (AMP) “29 If you know that He is absolutely righteous, you know [for certain] that everyone who practices righteousness [doing what is right and conforming to God’s will] has been born of Him.”

Key point:   Being in the Word and believing what He says alone produces our righteousness, true righteousness is always confirmed with fruit, the more fruit of righteousness we sow, the greater harvest we will have of the fruits of righteousness.  So what does it mean when someone has no fruit???  Something to seriously think about.

1 John 3:6-8 New International Version (NIV)”6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

So our conversations this  week about righteousness, sanctification, propitiation etc humbled me immensely as I realized my understanding of the definitions of these words is so very limited.   But what a great opportunity to explore together how we can find out what the original language was and what those words actually mean in the original Greek.   This was inspired by the desire to understand what OUR role is in God’s big picture and how this impacts as intercessors, those who are praying for others.

Let’s dig in.   I used 3 tools mostly.  Blueletter Bible for the Strong’s Concordance and Thayer’s Lexicon, Websters 1828 online dictionary and Biblehub for crossreferencing.

Laying the foundation (defining some terms and ideas on which to build up from):

Definitions:

Righteousness:

In the Websters 1828

Righteousness

RIGHTEOUSNESS, noun ri’chusness.

1. Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law. righteousness as used in Scripture and theology, in which it is chiefly used, is nearly equivalent to holiness, comprehending holy principles and affections of heart, and conformity of life to the divine law. It includes all we call justice, honesty and virtue, with holy affections; in short, it is true religion.

2. Applied to God, the perfection or holiness of his nature; exact rectitude; faithfulness.

3. The active and passive obedience of Christ, by which the law of God is fulfilled. Daniel 9:7.

4. Justice; equity between man and man. Luke 1:75.

5. The cause of our justification.

The Lord our righteousness Jeremiah 23:6.

 

From the Blueletter Bible

δικαιοσύνη dikaiosýnē, dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay; from G1342; equity (of character or act); specially (Christian) justification:—righteousness.

This righteousness here was taken from the verse below.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “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.”

which has the same root as the righteous man mentioned in James.

James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Strong’s

δίκαιος díkaios, dik’-ah-yos; from G1349; equitable (in character or act); by implication, innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively):—just, meet, right(-eous).

Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

“δίκαιος, -αία, -αιον, (from δίκη right), [from Homer down], properly, the Hebrew צַדִּיק, observant of ἡ δίκη, righteous, observing divine and human laws; one who is such as he ought to be; (German rechtbeschaffen; in the earlier language, whence appropriated by Luther, gerecht in a broad sense; in Greek writings used even of physical things, as ἵππος, Xenophon, mem. 4, 4, 5; γήδιον δικαιότατον, most fertile, Xenophon, Cyril 8, 3, 38; [ἅρμα δίκαιον, ibid. 2, 2, 26]); 1. in a wide sense, upright, righteous, virtuous, keeping the commands of God;….”

See https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G1342&t=KJV for whole entry as it is long for the Thayers

Next word from the verse:

Heb 2:17 KJV  “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

Strong’s definition of the word reconciliation:

ἱλάσκομαι hiláskomai, hil-as’-kom-ahee; middle voice from the same as G2436; to conciliate, i.e. (transitively) to atone for (sin), or (intransitively) be propitious:—be merciful, make reconciliation for.

John 12:40 ESV “40 He has blinded their eyes  and shardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn,  and I would heal them.”

2 Peter 1 Amplified “To those who have ^[b]received and possess [by God’s will] a precious faith of the ^[c]same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: ² Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³ For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through ^[d]true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ⁴ For by these He has bestowed on us His precious and magnificent promises [of inexpressible value], so that by them you may escape from the immoral freedom that is in the world because of disreputable desire, and become sharers of the divine nature. ⁵ For this very reason, applying your diligence [to the divine promises, make every effort] in [exercising] your faith to, ^[e]develop moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge (insight, understanding), ⁶ and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, steadfastness, and in your steadfastness, godliness, ⁷ and in your godliness, brotherly affection, and in your brotherly affection, [develop Christian] love [that is, learn to unselfishly seek the best for others and to do things for their benefit]. ⁸ For as these qualities are yours and are increasing [in you as you grow toward spiritual maturity], they will keep you from being useless and unproductive in regard to the true knowledge and greater understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For whoever lacks these qualities is blind—shortsighted [closing his spiritual eyes to the truth], having become oblivious to the fact that he was cleansed from his old sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, believers, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you [be sure that your behavior reflects and confirms your relationship with God]; for by ^[f]doing these things [actively developing these virtues], you will never stumble [in your spiritual growth and will live a life that leads others away from sin];”

So those who have not allowed God to wash them and change them via consistenly (day and night) reading and meditating on His Word (which as you remember from this week is what empowers us to obey Him and not sin against Him) will have blind spots and this will lead to us stumbling, being less fruitful and sometimes, not being healed ourselves and/or seeing others healed through our intercession.  We are told in the verse above that this can keep us from turning to God as we need to for healing to come.

Joshua 1:8 Amplified Bible (AMP) “8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be [a]successful.”

Psalm 119:11 King James Version (KJV) “11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

Romans 2:12-16 King James Version (KJV) “12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;   13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.  14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:  15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)  16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

James 1:22 King James Version (KJV) “22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

This naturally stirred up the question “But scripture says I am right now the righteousness of Jesus Christ, I do believe right now and scripture says that all believers can do certain things, so how does this fit?”  These are an excellent questions and springboard me to another post.  The short answer is that we are perhaps more complicated then we realize and that parts of us are fully saved and parts of us are still being renewed and healed.    Spirit, Soul and Body, What is the significance of this scriptural reality?  I will post about that very soon.