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.

This came up in our pre-start discussions last week.

How can I be sure God wants to heal me?

Is it selfish to ask God for healing?

Psalm 35:27 Webster’s Bible Translation  “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yes, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.”

Key Point:  prosperity here is sozo…. which includes of course healing and wholeness for the whole body.    So God delights in your health.

3 John 1:2 KJV “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

Key Point:  God desires greatly for us to be in health, both body and soul.   This desire was expressed here through His disciples.   

Romans 6:13-22 Revised Standard Version (RSV)  “13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.  15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.   20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Key point:   members = body parts….    so this literally can mean do not yield your body parts to be instruments of unrighteousness.

1 Corinthians 6:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Key point:   The price Jesus paid to make us whole and healed in our bodies was the torment and torture He went through during his “passion” week.   If God did not want us well, He would not have paid such a Massive price to heal us.

Isaiah 53:4-5 + 10 KJV” ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”   + “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

1 Peter 2:24 King James Version (KJV)  “24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Key Point:   It pleased God to bruise Jesus…  Jesus laid down His life for us willingly out of love and allowed his body to be scourged and whipped so that we could be healed physically and mentally and set free from our iniquities.

Psalm 103:1-4 ” Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; 4Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;”

Key Point:  We are reminded to never forget the things he has paid for.   Who forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases.     In the New Testament, this is repeated in the “communion” “Lord’s Supper” verses.

1 Corinthians 11 “20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.   21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.  22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.  23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:  24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.  25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.   26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.  27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.   28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.   30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.   31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.   32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.”

Key Point:   If we do not discern (perceive as separate) the benefit we receive through the Lord’s body, this is the reason many are sick and weak and have even died.      That worddamnation means from the blueletterbible.com site  and the Strong’s Concordance “κρίμα kríma, kree’-mah; from G2919; a decision (the function or the effect, for or against (“crime”)):—avenge, condemned, condemnation, damnation, + go to law, judgment.”   Anyone who doesn’t receive Jesus is presently condemned because our redemption comes through believing in and accepting that He has indeed paid the penalty for our sins by His shed blood… AND He has paid for the redemption, healing of our bodies, by the scourging and stripes He took for us.  Another way of saying this might be “whoever eats and drinks without perceiving what Jesus did remains under the judgements that they would released from if they believed and received what He has done”.   Why would He pay for my healing through the blood, whipping and torture of His Son if He did not want me to be healed?

John 3:18 ” 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

My favourite verse on this topic:

Luke 6 KJV “6 And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.  8 But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. 9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?  10 And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”

Key Point:  Jesus asked “which is  lawful?”   to do good = to save life = to heal on the Sabbat OR  to do evil = to destroy life = to leave unhealed on the Sabbath.   Jesus provided the answer definitively by healing the man’s hand.    In doing so, He has told us all that to leave the sick unhealed is equivalent to destroying live and doing evil.  For me this couldn’t be more clear!!!!    We can clearly understand even on a purely rational level that leaving a person unhealed especially in the case of a terminal disease, is to leave them in harms way.    This is why we are willing to spend billlions of dollars trying to help people get well as a nation and pay top dollar to those who promise health and wellness to us individually.  Jesus paid an even greater price because God Himself puts an even greater value in our wellness than we do.   Truly receiving our healing and being made whole is a source of delight for the Lord.

Luke 12:32 King James Version (KJV) “32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Key Point:  The enemy’s desire is for us to remain slaves to sin instead of living in freedom and righteousness.  His main tactic is to get us reject God’s Word.   I believe the story of Moses and Pharoah is a powerful type and shadow of what lengths that Pharoah/the enemy would go to and what extremes he will tolerate and go through to keep his slave nation under his rule…. BUT “He who is in us is GREATER than he who is in the world”.   ” We are more than conquerors” and the enemy has already been “publicly shamed and disarmed”.

1 John 3:8 King James Version (KJV) ” 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

Acts 10:38 King James Version (KJV) ” 38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

John 10:10 King James Version (KJV) “10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Other verses to consider:  Ezekiel 34 and Psalm 23.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd who goes after, binds up and heals His sheep.  He rebuked the evil shepherds for failing to do these things so certainly will be faithful in not neglecting what He sees.

 

 

 

I get a lot of lightbulb moments with God, here is one from this weekend that I share in case it blesses anyone else.

In our family’s devotional today, we read Psalm 109 and the verses 17 to 19 just hit me square between the eyes.   I will share while it is fresh on my mind as I think this is a key that I have been praying for.  The imagery of course appeals to a child but will make perfect sense to adults as well.  Here is the verse we read.

Psalm 109:17-19 King James Version (KJV)  “¹⁷ As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.  ¹⁸ As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.  ¹⁹ Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.”

Some other supporting verses:

Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV”¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”

Proverbs 18:21 New English Translation (NET Bible) “21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love its use will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 6:2 King James Version (KJV) “2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.”

Luke 12:3 “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 King James Version (KJV)  “5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Matthew 15:8 King James Version (KJV) “8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”

Key point:  Our words are powerful, very likely far more powerful than we our actions reflect.   Life and death truly are unleashed by the words we speak and we are releasing blessings and curses on ourselves and others regardless of how aware we are of this truth.  It is in our best interest therefore to guard our hearts with all diligence (Proverbs 4:20-24) and edit every word before it comes out of our mouths.

While words are powerful, insincere words will not release the power of the kingdom into a situation in the same measure as those that are sincere and from the heart.  There is a difference worth noting here.  There is most definitely a place where we know what is true, where we want to believe it and act accordingly but are “unable” to.. that place of I know it up here but need to sink into my heart so that it flows out of me readily and easily.    that is still a sincere heart position.   Just because we don’t emotionally feel something yet does not mean that we don’t sincerely want it and know that it is true and best.

Matthew 12:36 King James Version (KJV)  “36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Key Point:  Our words have genuine creative power and every word we speak is recorded, so we do truly need to monitor and take care about every word we speak.  Scripture takes it further and says that we need to take every thought captive to the Lord.  Our Words come our of our hearts.    Ultimate this boils down to letting God heal our broken hearts and cleanse them of all unrighteousness.      At the end of the day, there is great power in our words.. but even greater power in our words that are backed by our whole heart.    It reminded me of the verse about loving our brothers with unfeigned love.   Sincere words are very powerful indeed.  

 

Matthew 12:34 King James Version (KJV)  “34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Luke 6:37-38 King James Version (KJV)  “37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

What did I see in the PSALM 109 verse?   The law of sowing and reaping is very very real.   The Words I speak literally go out like a garment around others and me….    I can fully understand why the Word warns us to speak few words knowing that this is so.    On a personal note, in the KJV language, this says that word curses I speak over others come back to me like water into my bowels… Having come out of Crohn’s disease that really caught my attention.    A lot of modern medicine points to the facts that our bones are a major player in our immune system and health  and that our bowel health is equally important for our overall wellbeing.   SO INTERESTING therefore that both of these organs are mentioned here as being impacted by the words we speak.   YES, I am motivated more than ever to watch that I am speaking blessings and recognizing that there is absolutely “assignments” of blessings or curses coming back to me in the measure that I dole out.

Consider 2 Corinthians 10:5, which calls us to cast down every high thing and thought that witnesses against God’s Word to us.    Do you remember the white playdough analogy?   If the person we struggle with is white playdough that is being held captive to the food colouring/black playdough and needs to be rescued (by God and His Word not us), then are our thoughts and words reflecting the reality of what God says about who they are really.  OR are we so fixated on the black playdough that we are seeing and hearing that we are actually with our own words and thoughts enforcing their captivity and them with even more black playdough?

The imagery that God illustrated this to me with:

I often give my younger kids playdough to fidget with while we do our studies.   So my son had this lovely green fresh smushy playdough and was pressing into some molds as we read and it came together in my mind.    Every time we speak words and think thoughts about someone, for good or bad, we are in a way, pushing them against a mold.    If they are at all malleable, which many are as they are deeply motivated to please others, these words leave a very deep impression.   Over time, they will actually start to be conformed to whatever it is we say about them.   Others are more like hardened clay.  The harder you push them against the mold, the harder and more resistant they get.   So of course we want to be like soft playdough to the Word and God and like hard clay to wordliness and evil.   Back to the mold analogy, every word I speak to a person or about a person is setting up in a way, an invisible mold around them.  They may not voice it, but they often feel it and respond to it’s pressure.    Perhaps you can think of someone that as soon as you are around them you feel a pressure to act a way that is different than you act when they are not around.   

Just by their presence, there is a pressure to be conformed to their expectations of you.   If those expectations are for godliness and expressed in love and gentleness, than this is a great thing.   If those expectations are for failure, letting others down, harming others or in any other way negative, the spiritual pressure is for us to be conformed to that image.  Perhaps you know someone that seems to bring out this side of you.   When you are around them, you feel like you cannot do anything well enough, right or that you will fall short in their expectation.     This can be words and expectations they have projected on us BUT it can just as easily be words an expectations that we have allowed to be established in our hearts and minds by our hearts and words.     What expectations (invisible molds) are our thoughts and words those around us into?

So I am going forward with 2 lessons learned:

1. I will choose carefully which molds I expose myself to and speak into to being over others
2. I will guard my own heart diligently, seeking to be like flint to the ways of the world and the pressures “invisible molds” that others mostly unknowingly speak over my life, and yet remain pliable and moldable to the Master’s hand and plan for my life

Every time I seek God and his Word with a desire to be molded into His likeness, I am choosing to let the Master Potter press me into the mold He made for my life personally. 

Every time I choose to set before my eyes, ears, heart, hands etc things that are of the world and ungodliness, I am helping to construct molds around  myself to conformed to those images.  I recognize i cannot leave the world and therefore must learn how to live with God’s armour on all the time, abiding in his presence so that I am unimpressionable in these things.

Isaiah 50:7 King James Version (KJV) “7 For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”

Jeremiah 15:19-21 English Standard Version (ESV)
19 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
but you shall not turn to them.
20 And I will make you to this people
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

Practically speaking, what do word curses look like?

Most you statements are  form of word curses.  “You always….   You are just so….   You never….    if only you would ……    you drive me crazy…    Isn’t that just like you to ….   

Instead we could say something like “I feel like something is amiss in the atmosphere of our home/ in my own heart  right now.   Could we stop and pray and speak blessings over the situation and shift things back to a kingdom perspective?  I know that we both love the Lord and want what He wants.  I am so thankful that you are a gentle/God/compassionate/loving spouse.” 

Any thought or words that imply that someone is stuck and unable to change and every accusation no matter how subtle.

Sometimes they come in the form of warnings:   If you do that, you will….  this is so so so easy to do with our children.    “Stop doing that, if you do you could _________  (harm in some terrible way) your siblings”  “Stop jumping on the couch, you could fall of and break your______”  instead we can say.   “Stop jumping on the couch, it would be far wiser to jump on the little trampoline.  God bless this child with wisdom and discernment and the ability to chooose that which is wise and will keep him/her safe.”   Same message but one with a curse, one with a blessing.

Yes, it takes effort and work to speak blessings instead of curses.    But we can do all things in Christ who strengthens us.

I was DEEPLY convicted when we read this verse especially in the context of these other verses previously impressed into my heart and head.  Thankfully, even though the enemy can build up his prison  walls over generations, and years, freedom is far more easily obtained, with a few simple minutes of sincere repentance and humility before our God, we can see everything begin to shift and those carefully crafted walls begin to quickly crumble.

Humanly speaking, our natural response to ungodliness and to someone else’s weakness and sin is to take it personally, take offense, let our buttons get pushed, fight back, retreat, stonewall, build up our defenses, get wounded etc…    What sunk in for me that these negative responses are actually driving the struggling one further from God and His flock instead of building them up and strengthening them.    Absolutely, there is a time and place for a gentle and godly rebuke.   If not done in love, than there is a very good chance we are actually building up the prisoners walls instead  of helping to tear them down.  But here is how scripture calls us to respond to the areas of weakness of our brothers and sisters:

Galatians 6:1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)  “6 Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.”

Ezekiel 34 ERV “20 So the Lord God says to them: “I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep! 21 You push with your side and shoulder. You knock down all the weak sheep with your horns. You push until you have forced them away, 22 so I will save my flock. They will not be caught by wild animals anymore. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 Then I will put one shepherd over them, my servant David. He will feed them and be their shepherd. 24 Then I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be the ruler living among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

I confess before you all that I have fallen prey far too many times to being the fat sheep, to responding to the sin in others by taking it personally, seeing their weakness as an intentional willful attack against me, by  pushing them, nagging them, speaking death over them instead of life and blessings and with all gentleness speaking the truth and freedom over their lives.    I have confessed this to my God who is faithful to forgive me and wash me clean as snow and throw my past sins into the sea of forgetfullness.   I am going forward from strength to strength and glory to glory and will from this time forward even more so choose to speak life abundantly and,  set my face and heart as flint against curses and ungodliness, for His glory and Kingdom, with Christ who strengthens me.

 

This is  strong meat.   So if it doesn’t make sense, no worries, move on.  If it is needful for you, the Lord will bring it back to you.   It is something you will very likely have to chew on and meditate on directly from God’s Word.    It is a helpful tool/key of knowledge to have if you regularly intercede for the sick or those held captive to sins.

Key Point:   Scripture or at very least parts of scripture have another name “The Law”.      Since the Word says that we can put ourselves back under “the Law” even as New Testament believers, it is still important for us to understand at least some elements of it. There may well be times when we minister to others that we will need to have understanding of how to legally loose a lawful captive.     Please don’t hesitate to skip this post altogether and if you do read it, just let what sticks sticks and what doesn’t doesn’t and move on.   The goal is simply to bring awareness that this aspect of God’s Word exists.   If you are in the Word regularly, He will explain all that you need to know about this.     Formulas will always fall short, at the end of the day, to effectively minister, the main thing is to learn to hear from and follow the Lord through His Word and through a vibrant relationship established in prayer.

I hadn’t thought about that much until I was praying this year for someone  and I heard the words “courts of heaven”.   In truth, I had heard of the presently trending courts of heaven books a few years ago already but had not felt in any way called to read them.   I would say I was even hardened against this feeling leery of another formula type way of approaching God and healing.    Life and death was hanging in the balance though so I followed through and this word of knowledge ended up being part of the answer to this dear one being healed and delivered from a sure death sentence on her life.  Praise God.   Needless to say, I am now very motivated to understand the courts of heaven for myself through the study of scripture.

Honestly, my knowledge of this is insufficient to do it justice.  My goal is not to answer anything in full but simply to hopefully springboard those who are called to it, into a deeper study and understanding of this scriptural reality.  I do feel that in at least some cases of intercession, understanding these things this will play a powerful and even essential role.  As always, ask for eyes to see and ears to hear and the ability to understand, and that any error in our understanding, any veils or scales or other spiritual blocks would fall away so that we can receive all that God has for us on this topic, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I should say, I think that a lot of people do things already and just use different terms to express what they do.

I will focus on scripture here, but will share that the only books that I have on this topic presently are written by Jeannette Strauss.  I have only just started to read them though.   Her testimony is on youtube for anyone who would like to hear it.   There are no doubt gems of wisdom to be gleaned there.

The essential question:   What is in the Word?   There are many many legal terms and references all through the Word.   Let’s explore some.

Isaiah 49:24-25 King James Version (KJV) “24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?  25 But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.”

or in the NIV …

Isaiah 49:24-25  “24 Can plunder be taken from warriors,  or captives be rescued from the fierce[a]?  25 But this is what the Lord says:  “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,  and plunder retrieved from the fierce;  I will contend with those who contend with you,  and your children I will save.”

Key points:  a person can be in legal captivity and Satan considers those in captivity as His plunder.

• God is willing to contend with those who content with us.    God enters into the battles that we engage in.  When we are interceding for someone else, we are entering the battle and can very powerfully bring God into the picture for someone who would otherwise not be benefitting from having God contending for them
• If someone can be a lawful captive, that means there is a law in place that is governing such things and it is to our advantage to understand the systems of that law so that we can navigate through effectively and victoriously

1 Corinthians 15:56 King James Version (KJV) “56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”

Key point:  sin gets it’s strength from the good Law of God.  If there were no rules and no consequences in God’s good law, then sin would have no power.    The authority that enforces the Law is God.  Sin and Satan are legally enforcing the consequences spelled out in the Law but can also therefore be legally bound by those with knowlegdge and understanding of the Law.

Proverbs 26:2 King James Version (KJV) “2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.”

Key Point:  No curse can come upon a righteous man.   The story of Job illustrates this powerfully.  This is a snapshot of what it looks like in the court of heaven when Satan is accusing the godly.   But before I go there, I will share a few additional verses about this powerful promise of God, that we can actually live in a place of total protection.    Whenever this comes up, the natural thing is to have a number of people we admire pop to mind who are sick, were sick and have died etc.    I get how hard it is to believe this especially.    Here are several other verses expressing equally amazing things.

Psalm 91 tells us that “no plague will come near the dwelling place” of those who abide in the “secret place, in the shadow of the Most High”.    If you work through this line by line, you will find promises that are beyond our wildest imaginations including that we cannot even trip on a stone if we are dwelling with the Lord in this way.

 

Luke 10:19 King James Version (KJV) “19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

Exodus 15:26 King James Version (KJV)  “26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.”

Exodus 23:25-27 English Standard Version (ESV) “25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and he[a] will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. 26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. 27 I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.”

Job 1 KJV “And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?  ⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.  ¹¹ But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.  ¹² And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.”

Key point:   By living in fear of the Lord and obedience to God’s statutes, Job lived as a righteouss man and therefore God maintained an impenetrable hedge around his life, his family and his affairs…  So so so encouraging.  For a season, God gave Satan permission to test Job’s resolve and faith.   Take careful note that God gave specific permissions and prohibitions, but he did not approve Satan’s specific plan to tempt/test Job and that Satan had no option to touch Job beyond the permissions specifically obtained by God.  He had to go back and ask God permission to touch his physical health as this was originally approved.    Note also that at the end of the sifting time, Satan was once again barred from testing Job in this way and Job ended His days doubly blessed.

Ok so I can hear the question.. yes, but that was Old Testament, what has that got to do with today.  The New Testament echoes this reality plainly in these verses.

Luke 22:30-32 King James Version (KJV) “30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:  32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

Revelation 12:10 King James Version (KJV)  “10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

Strong’s tells us Satan in Hebrew means:

Satan !
Σατανᾶ (Satana)
Noun – Vocative Masculine Singular
Strong’s Greek 4567: An adversary, Satan. Of Chaldee origin corresponding to ma’bad; the accuser, i.e. The devil.

and the Greek

Σατανᾶς Satanâs, sat-an-as’; of Chaldee origin corresponding to H4566 (with the definite affix); the accuser, i.e. the devil:—Satan.

From  http://www.blbclassic.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4567&t=KJV

So the name Satan = the Accuser/ the Adversary

Mark 3:26-28 “²⁶ And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.  ²⁷ No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.  ²⁸ Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:   ^“

Key Point:  Until we bind Satan (by removing his legal right to the lawful captive by repenting and seeking forgiveness on their behalf, and asking for a legal stay against the further enforcement of their deserved punishment) we are powerless to plunder his goods and set the captive free.   Most of us have said the words “be bound in the name of Jesus”.  Is it possible that binding Satan is actually more about taking the correct legal steps as described above ?   We cannot believe unto salvation for anyone, nor can we stay their judgement forever.    God is slow to anger, giving us time to repent from our sins..   But legally He cannot be a perfectly just judge and remove the curse that is deserved indefinitely or permanently.  God wants them to come into repentance.  He has assigned to us the work of being ministers of reconciliation.  He wants to reveal His goodness to all as His goodness brings men to repentance (see below Romans 2:4).   He wants us to receive the propitiation for our sins now so that we can be spared wrath later. 

2 Peter 3:9 English Standard Version (ESV) “9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Roman 2:3-5 BSB “3So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Thank God we also have a heavenly advocate in Jesus Christ.

1 John 2 King James Version (KJV)  “2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.  4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

And we are also blessed to present our situations “cases” before a righteous judge.

Luke 18:1-10 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?”

Also from Strongs and blueletterbible the definition of judge.   Actually, there are several words used so you do have to look it up each time you see it in the English as the Greek is far more specific.   For example.  The first is more like the administrative office that we think of when we think of judge.   The second is more defined by judge simply meaning one who judges another but not necessarily as an appointed judge with authority.

Acts 10:42 King James Version (KJV)  “42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. ”

Key point:  Jesus is the only Judge of the quick and the dead.  But it is more complicated than that.  There is the White Throne Judgement but there are also ongoing accusations being levelled at us day and night by the accuser of the brethren and ongoing need for us to seek the righteous Lord with petitions and for forgiveness as we go through our days and our lives.

κριτής kritḗs, kree-tace’; from G2919; a judge (genitive case or specially):—judge.

δικαστής dikastḗs, dik-as-tace’; from a derivative of G1349; a judger:—judge.

Matthew 5:25 KJV “²⁵ Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”

in the TPT “It is always better to come to terms with the one who wants to sue you before you go to trial, or you may be found guilty by the judge, and he will hand you over to the officers, who will throw you into prison.”

Key Point:  How do we settle the case out of court?  So that we will not go to trial and get thrown into prison..  We plead guilty and pay the penalty.   As redeemed brothers and sisters, we take responsibility by agreeing, repenting (changing out thinking and actions to line up with the Word) and accepting Jesus as our payment in full for all of our sins and pleading His blood (our payment in full) over the case so it is stamped, PAID IN FULL.   REDEEMED.  We see this echoed in 1 Corinthians…

1 Corinthians 11: 25 “²⁵ After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.  ²⁶ For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.  ²⁷ Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  ²⁸ But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.  ²⁹ For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  ³⁰ For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.  ³¹ For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.  ³² But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.  ³³ Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.”

What does this have to do with praying for other people?   Sometimes when we are praying for others, perhaps even often, they are actually experiencing a lawful sentence/curse on their lives for choices and sin in their lives that are in rebellion against God and His Word.   They are therefore lawful captives and Satan is lawfully enforcing the fruit of their sin.  In such a case, the lawful cause must be removed so that the curse can be lawfully removed or stayed for a season so that they can come into repentance.

Practically Speaking:

1. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the different scriptures that instruct us on how and when and what our lawful position is when we approach the Lord as Judge regarding the case of a potentially lawful captive.
2. Take the time to ask God to examine you and be quick to agree with any accusations that come against you and repent for any known sins, especially bitterness before praying for another.
3.  Get equipped with the Word through regular study so that when you present such a situation you can use the Sword (the short sword of the Word) with surgical precision as Jesus modelled for us in the wilderness) to cut off the Adversary’s case lawfully.
4. Know, I mean really KNOW, your identity in Christ so that if the Accuser turns on you, you are equipped to disarm Him with that same sword, knowing per 2 Corinthians (see below) that you have being called to be an ambassador of reconciliation and are approaching the Lord lawfully to grant forgiveness to the one who has sinned (temporarily as if they sin again, another forgiveness is required, possibly why we are called to bring things to God persistenly day and night, see above the parable of the persistent widow and Revelations 12:10, the Accuser is active day and night)
5. Romans 14:22-23 Amplified Bible (AMP)  “22 The faith which you have [that gives you freedom of choice], have as your own conviction before God [just keep it between yourself and God, seeking His will]. Happy is he who has no reason to condemn himself for what he approves. 23 But he who is uncertain [about eating a particular thing] is condemned if he eats, because he is not acting from faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin [whatever is done with doubt is sin.]
6. John 3:18 King James Version (KJV)  ” 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.nful].”
7. A couple of Word Studies to consider.  Unworthily is only used twice in the whole NT.   Per the blueletterbible.com Strong’s Concordance, it means unworthily / irreverently.   That irreverently is a whole different meaning.   From http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/irreverent.
   

   Irreverent

   IRREV’ERENT, adjective

   1. Wanting in reverence and veneration; not entertaining or manifesting due regard to the Supreme Being.

   2. Proceeding from irreverence; expressive of a want of veneration; as an irreverent thought, word or phrase.

   3. Wanting in respect to superiors.

James 5:15 King James Version (KJV)  “15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.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.”

Key Point:  Right here in James, it points to the fact that the prayer of the righteous man avails much.  The confess your sins one to another is directed to those who are ministering…  Over and over again we see the call to live blamelessly, and holy before the Lord and that confessing our shortfalls and sins should a continual and consistent experience for those who walk after the Spirit.  Do consider the lives of those who interceded powerfully for others scripturally and I think you will notice some trends in their lives and level of godliness, transparency and sincerity with God.  Think of Jonah, Moses, Abraham etc.

Matthew 6:13-15 King James Version (KJV)  “13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Key point:  Be especially mindful that holding bitterness against others keeps God from forgiving you of your trespasses, so be especially mindful of purging your life of all bitterness and asking to be forgiven.

Never lose track that we are approaching Our Holy LORD.

Habakkuk 1:13 International Standard Version (ISV) “13 Your eyes are too pure to gaze upon evil;  and you cannot tolerate wickedness.  So why do you tolerate the treacherous?
And why do you stay silent  while the wicked devour those who are more righteous than they are?”

I was deeply convicted when I read the verse below.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 King James Version (KJV)  “16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

Key Point:  We are now the dwelling place, the home of the Holy Spirit.   We are called to live accordingly.   To knowingly sin is to defile God’s dwelling place.   PAUSE AND CHEW ON THIS.   Honestly, there is nothing to inspire working out your own salvation with fear and trembling then to have this particular truth sink in.      Repentance and asking for forginess for our shortfall is simply us cleaning house and maintaining the habitation, house of God in an appropriate state for His presence.    Remember, Habbakuk says that He is Holy and cannot tolerate that which is wicked and perverse.  We are called to ABIDE in His presence continually..  This requires putting ourselves humbly on the shortest leash humanly possible and running to the Lord quickly every time we knowingly miss the mark to restore and cleanse the temple.

In an earlier post I shared the verse about the need for us to die to ourselves, crucify our flesh and follow Jesus.    I know it is far easier to live in the place of believing that we are powerless to overcome our flesh and sin but scripture tells us that we truly can do all things with Christ,(Matthew 19:26) that He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world  (1 John 4:4) and that we are more than conquerors in Christ(Romans 8:37).   We talked a lot this week about the temptation in the wilderness that Jesus faced for 40 days and how He never sinned and resisted/bound the enemy effectively by using the Word of God with power and precision(Luke 4).  We talked about how we do the things He did and greater things several times now. (see John 14:12).     This means that we have the potential to be tempted as Jesus was and resist as effectively as He did.   We have so much more potential than we have presently tapped into.  In the meantime, we can instantly be washed clean as snow with a simple confession of our shortfall.  Praise God, He is truly Wondrous.

 

2 Corinthians 2:10-12 English Standard Version (ESV)  “10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

2 Corinthians 5:18 King James Version (KJV) “18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”

 

 

 

 

 

Hello!  So I mentioned this week that comparison and competition were as the sin of accusation….     I have been rethinking this and realized that it is even broader than this.   Of course all of this must be backed with scripture otherwise it has little or no value to our walk.

Scripture calls us to brotherly love and service to one another:

Romans 12:9-13 King James Version (KJV)
9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.  10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;  ¹¹ Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;  ¹² Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;  ¹³ Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.”

John 13 NLT “³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I Corinthians 13 NLT “⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Philippians 2:3-4 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)  “3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

And a strong biblical warning against rivalries and contentions:

Galatians 5:19-23 The Passion Translation (TPT) “19 The cravings of the self-life are obvious: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, 20 chasing after things instead of God,[a] manipulating others,[b] hatred of those who get in your way,  senseless arguments, [ESV = rilvaries] [NIV = selfish ambition] resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, 21 being envious of the blessings of others, murder, uncontrolled addictions,[c] wild parties, and all other similar behavior.  Haven’t I already warned you that those who use their “freedom” for these things[d] will not inherit the kingdom realm of God!”

Competition and comparison are part of the fabric of our culture.  From birth, we are encouraged to compare our children to what is “normal” and to take action if they fall outside of these parameters.  They are supposed to weigh a certain amount by a certain age, make certain sounds etc.   We are systematically trained to compare one another to each other.

God places the highest value on loving one another and Him….  Which in part requires us to obey His Word as obedience is the guaranteed outcome of truly loving God.

John 14:15 CSB “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”

Competition and Comparison put the greatest value on our performance and on where we sit in the pecking order.  They put many snares before our feet.   They encourage us to desire to be above others, instead of agreeing with scripture which tells us to think of others as better than ourselves.   They make it difficult for us to rejoice at the successes of others as now the successes of others carry with them the message to us “you are lesser than that one because his/her performance was better”.  Instead of rejoicing in the fact that we are made to be part of the body and that each part has unique gifts and strengths that are to work together in unity and cooperation.      If we saw the other person as part of our own body, we would rejoice as they rise up and thrive and do well.  Competition and comparison set us up to view our brothers and sisters as rivals.  If you are looking for a shorter answer, this is a great place to stop…  If not read on:)

 

We see this very plainly in the account of Cain and Abel.   Have a read through Genesis 4 to see how it plays out

^“2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.  ³ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.  ⁴ And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:  ⁵ But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.  ⁶ And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?  ⁷ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.  ⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.  ⁹ And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?   ¹⁰ And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.  ¹¹ And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;  ¹² When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.   ¹³ And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.  ¹⁴ Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.  ¹⁵ And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.  ¹⁶ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.”

Each son brought an offering to God and each offering was considered in light of God’s standard not man’s.   Cain had nothing to gain from killing Abel.  Yet this feeling of comparison, rilvary, jealousy tempted him to take Abel out of the picture which of course in no way would impact God’s willingness to accept his biblically unacceptible offering.   Our audience is God alone.   Our goal is live in a way that is pleasing to Him alone which will by definition be the best way for us to live with others as well.     Competition and comparison compete with and very often change our heart motivation to vain-glory, pride of life and performace and self-idolatry which set us up for having a spirit of rilvary, strife, contention, offense, jealousy and satisfaction of feeling better about ourselves at the cost of another.

A personal story that illustrates this well.  We had a cat when we first got married.   He was a lovely cat who had a marvelous personality.    He was my cat first and I had raised him as a kitten.  God taught me this lesson one day as my husband and I were sitting together in a room and our kitty came in and jumped on my lap, not my hubby’s.  Do you know, I felt this little thrill of satisfaction that I was the cat’s favourite.    And God immediately spoke to my heart.

First, the playing field was never fair and I honestly didn’t do anything special to make me his favourite.    The circumstances favoured me greatly.    Comparison and competition  pit 2 or more parties against one another who are by nature unequally gifted and able.   So competition by default is unjust and unfair because by genetics, by culture, by giftings someone is better positioned to come out ahead.  It positions the “winner” to be tempted to get satisfaction, self-worth, pride, the praises of man etc and accredit themselves for this accomplishment  instead of being focussed on using those gifts and talents puretly for the advancement and service God provided them for.    It positions the “losers” to be tempted to feel inadequate, unworthy, to strive for and be conformed to things that they were simply not made to do or be and to dislike and even hate themselves as a result, and actually accuse God that His Creation (us) are not of great worth (we are because God made us that way) and that we are deficient (we are not because we are made in His image).

Competition and comparison often turn into thiefs that steal our time, energy and resources from our God given purpose to pursue empty, vainglorious human goals instead.    They can steal our ability to delight in our different strengths, roles and assignments from God  and rejoice in the part of the body that God made us and others to be.  Comparision sets us up to covet something we were never made to do or be and steals our joy and peace in being obedient to and faithful in our calling(s).

2nd.   Competition and Comparison serve no purpose in God’s Kingdom because God’s supply is limitless and infinite.     In God’s economy, we can all finish the race (the unique race He has set before us individually) and receive the crown.    The course that God has set before us is unique to us and is perfectly fair and just and in accordance with our gifts and talents.   That is true for each and everyone of us and a unique crown awaits at the end for anyone who finishes regardess of how many that do.

We only had one cat… the supply was limited.   If we had 2 cats, one in each lap, then of course there was no competition for the one cat.    In God’s economy, their are infinite cats, infinite rewards and infinite supply so to each one who obeys, the blessings and promised outcomes will be given.   Competition disappears when each one understands that they will be rewarded purely based on their willingness to obey God and fullfill their purpose and callings that He has placed on their lives.    The miracles of the loaves and fish illustrates this beautifully.  Each one could eat their fill according to their appetites and the supply still exceeded their needs.     This course actually requires and positions them to want to help others, serve others and encourage others to succeed in what they are called to do as the body of Christ only thrives as each one takes up their God given role.   This releases us to feel great joy and satisfaction in seeing others succeed and thrive.   So really the spirit of unity, cooperation and helping one another is what we really need.

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

“Winning” defined scripturally is living a life in submission, obedience and in faithfulness to God’s Word and call on our lives.

“Losing” is to spend “our” lives on worthless and worldly things that have no eternal value or purpose.  Philippians summed it up this way “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves”

1 Corinthians 6:20-23 BSB “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”

1 Corinthians 7:22-24 King James Version (KJV)  “22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.  23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.  24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”

 

When the Father’s business and kingdom take their rightful place in our hearts and motivations, than our goal becomes simply to be faithful today in investing our lives, time, resources and energy into the work of the Kingdom, while giving HIM all the glory for the fruit and increase these investments bring.  Just as Jesus did, we can learn to set our hearts on only doing what we see the Father doing (John 5:19).

John 4:35-38 English Standard Version (ESV)
35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 King James Version (KJV) “6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 English Standard Version (ESV) “10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled[a] master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

I would round all of this out with saying that our daily routines and lives certainly can be done in a way that has eternal value and represents/reveals the Kingdom of God to others.   If our heart motive is to advance the Kingdom and obey and glorify the Lord according to His Word in all that we do, we have positioned our lives well to hit the mark and produce eternal fruit.

Colossians 3:23-24 King James Version (KJV)
“23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;  24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 King James Version (KJV)
“31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

 

Hello!   I am so blessed to be spending the next 6 weeks with you studying the Word of God.

We will meet from Tuesdays July the 2nd from 9:30am to 11:30am (doors open at 9am for people to come and get settled and listen to some music, or chat and visit) untl August the 6th

or on Thursdays from July 4th 7pm to 9pm (doors open at 6:30pm for people to come and get settled and listen to some music, or chat and visit) until until August the 8th.

The format worked well the last time.  We will continue to explore the Word of God and what God can and will accomplish in our lives through His Word.

We will be starting on Page 6 subtopic 8.     We typically cover anywhere from 7 to 12 verses a week.   I will do my best to keep the website updated with weekly comments so that if you miss a week, you can stay up to date and keep following from home.

As always, treat our times together as the springboard.  God has so much more to share with you personally as you spend time being “Berean” and spending time with Him and His Word.

Blessings,

Lisa