Unless God's children have a foundational belief in place
in their minds and heart of God's total love and forever acceptance; they can not receive a continual revelation and mature
to the level of Jesus own perfection. We have in these last days a continual revelation by God through
mankind in all areas that is causing great confusion in the Christian and unsaved world. Wisdom has increased and man
has not had the selflessness to act on these new revelations because greed and seats of power have become their first love
in their lives which has caused them to become idol worshipers. I am grieved to say that; this is going on in the body
of Christ and that is a under statement. If the body of Christ is a slave to the sin principle; how
are they to be the salt and light to this generation?
There is behavior going on in God's
family that has become an example of depravity that has made the body of Christ a laughing stock to the world. I say
this with a great hurt with in me and at times bewildered at the ignorance of God's children living in this type of bondage
to the devil's devices. Thank God that he has a few ministries still diligent and alert as how to handle the devil's
deceptions because they are preaching God's message of grace and total love. Only this message
will set the captives free from their bondages.
Paul
the Apostle in 1 Cor. 13:1-3 tells us this. "IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels,
but have not love that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and
in us, I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers the gift of interpreting the
divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient]
faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love God's love in me I am nothing a useless nobody.
Even if I dole out all that I have to the poor in providing food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that
I may glory, but have not love God's love in me, I gain nothing."
As I have said; we have a lot of this good stuff that Paul was talking about
going on in the secular world and with in the body of Christ however, God's kind of love is hardly motivating
much of it. It is time for the body of Christ all of us who claim to be born again
children of God who say we love the Lord to bend our knee and bow our hearts and ask the Holy Ghost if he sees any harmful
thinking that is causing us to miss God's intended purpose for our lives and because of this; we are missing the high
calling that He has put on our lives. We are living in perilous times and we have no more time to be half hearted and
milk toast in having one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world.
We must
not be deceived as Paul warns us in 11 Tim 3:7 when he says "Don't get into a mentality of forever
learning things and never coming to the truth of the matter in front of you." When we live with one
foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom in being total persuaded of God's love and grace and do not cast our entire
personality on Him; scripture tells us we are vulnerable to become reprobate. The definition
of reprobate is one who lives with a sin conscience mentality feeling abandoned by God and condemning themselves and passing
this spirit on to others they come in contact with.
This is the evil we need to define; so we can run from it.
It
is matter of life and death in completing your given assignment given to you by God to this generation as a believer and that
this is your first priority motivating you with great passion and commitment. God knew we would be fighting this battle
in our minds in our endeavor in trying to please Him. He is already pleased with us and wants us to
grow out of these baby ideas of our wondering if there is a place of total security in following Him. I believe that
many Christians that I have talked to believe that God is some type of task master and they carry a flower in their minds,
and as they are living their life they tear the leaves off as they are going along saying "He loves me and He
loves me not." This type of mentality is childish thinking and has no root of assurance as to them knowing
who they are in Christ. I am identifying the sin principle and how it operates in the Christian's life.
Paul went on to say that we should "fully complete our own salvation with
reverence and awe and trembling self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation,
timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ. We are not to do this in our own
strength for it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you energizing and creating in you the
power and desire, both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
If the sin principle is alive and active in your thinking process; it will be impossible for you
to believe and rest in God's ability to persuade and complete the good work He began when you were created and formed
in you mothers womb because; He was the author of that. The attack of the enemy on the born again
church over the last ten years has become fierce in fooling it into believing that; because of the anti-christ spirit at work
in the world, they have a responsibility to fix the problem with their own agendas and the standard
that they are using is the flesh with out using the anointing that constantly lives in them through the Holy Ghost.
They deserve an A+ for good intensions however they
are failing in getting the job done. Scripture tells us that "unless God builds His house the people
labor in vain." God also tells us that; "if we build his house His way, He will build
our house." If we really want to live under the shadow and protection of the Holy Ghost and finally
rest from our laboring of struggling to be accepted by God and man; we must get still and take time from our busy schedules
of living with the mentality of places to go and things to do and our pride of life and; our lack of empathy feelings for
ourselves and others as we go about grieving the Holy Ghost and quenching His imploring voice saying " I have
come to help you, why are you resisting me, I am your friend." Yes, we are our worst enemy however,
I do not believe that the majority of the Body of Christ will have the honesty to bend their knee and bow their heart and
confess this to God because; they are not quit sure they won't get a thrashing from God that; they will never be able
to overcome.
Again we are explaining how the sin principle can manipulate
and control God's children. What person in their right mind would tolerate this type of abuse?
And that what is really taking place. The born again believer who has the mind of Christ the day they became God's
child does not know how to reason with it because; they have never been discipled and taught how to walk in God's kingdom.
This is the devil's ploy to make us feel that we are being abandon by God. When that doubt enters our mind and we
become mesmerized with the thought; this is when the devil will attack and the flesh will become addicted to all kinds of
depravity. Once this attitude begins to grow; we lose our first love and the sweetness of his
presence is not there to guard our heart where the issues of life are formed.
Since
we have the life of Christ in our bodies; there is hope for all of God's bruised children and there are millions that
need to be healed in all areas of their make up.
It is amazing the
number of Christians that I have met who can never enjoy looking to be numbered in the throne room and be united with their
families who have gone on in the Lord because; they live with a inner conviction that even though they are God's children
they feel that they don't measure up and God is still going to send them to hell. It scars me to even think of being
in bondage to that type of reasoning and if it wasn't for the grace of God at work in my life that could have
been me."
Even though I have used this example
in two or three other articles on the web site, it seems to fit the bill and I must again use it as an example of how God
the Father loves His children and how we who have children must raise them in the admonition of the Lord. We can only love
our children as God intended if; we are experiencing the love God has for us. The story of the prodigal son in scripture is
being defined from the majority of born again assemblies as he being condemned because he squandered his inheritance that
was given to him by his father. Rather then he being condemned because he went out from his father's physical presence
to find his fortune and identity with his father's wisdom in his heart and his physical inheritance in his suit case This
must take place in all households as children have to make a free choice as to what standard they will use to live their own
lives by. This happens by trial and error.
The
sin principle at work in the born again believer makes them quiver in a bondage of fear and stops
them to search for their identity in Christ in all areas. They are afraid to make a mistake and be damaged with no hope
of ever being repaired. It is impossible to love yourself in this condition and scripture tells
us that it's as we love ourselves that we are able to love others.
Now
the parable of the prodigal son is found in Luke 15:11-32 and what we have is a perfect example of a father's son attempting
to grow up. This parable is really about two sons. Both lived at home with their father until the younger son decided that
he wanted to leave the nest and strike out on his own. The younger boy asked his father for his inheritance and because his
father loved both boys without conditions. He gave him and his older brother their share at the same time. The older boy stayed
at home where the younger boy struck out on his own to find his identity and meaning of life. It says; he wandered into a
foreign land that he was not accustomed to. This world that we live in is a foreign land and the bible says this is not our
permanent home. We are kingdom people and we are to live in heavenly places with Christ Jesus now
which is the spiritual world of the kingdom of God.
If you are born again;
the kingdom of God is in you and you need to function under kingdom rules. There is a totally different
interpretation of kingdom rules in comparison to what is being taught in the majority of our born again churches today which
is reinforcing the sin principle. The younger son in this process of searching for his own identity got involved with other
people with different ideas then he had heard at home. After a season of time, there was a famine in the land.
This word famine means; there became a lack of fulfillment in this
boy's life. Because of his poor decision-making, he squandered his physical inheritance given to him from his loving father
and ended up in a pigpen or field eating the food of the pigs because of the addicted life style that he found himself in.
This took place because; he created a self-imposed imprisonment within himself of living in guilt and condemnation.
He joined himself to a citizen of that country and the citizen sent him into his field
to feed swine and he would fain or was (reluctantly willing) to fill his belly
with the husks that the swine eat and no man was willing to help him. (No man in his own understanding
can help us when we are in this condition, only the Holy Ghost can; who is our teacher.) A pig or swine does not
discriminate and will eat anything. If we are going to grow strong and straight, we had better begin to care about ourselves
and watch what comes in our ear and eye gate so we don't plant seeds in our thought lives that produce a continuation
of the sin principle in our lives. Let's define some of these terms so we can interpret it correctly. Let's look at
this as a condition of our souls meaning, our thoughts and reasoning power that controls
our feelings.
This word fain
in the Greek is epistamai: meaning to put your mind upon and be aquatinted with new ideas. The word belly
is koilia: meaning, heart or womb or what the bible defines, where the issues of life come from. The word husks;
is heras: meaning, in a dilemma of choosing between two different alternatives. This is a
process that, we all go through as we become free to make choices for ourselves without guilt. This is what Paul the Apostle
and I had to deal with as all Christians do. This is a painful process at times because; it is delivering and changing us
into a clear independent thinker when we read and meditate on the word of God. As this takes place in us, it brings us great
hope and joy as we change into Jesus Christ's own perfection.
Jesus
was trying to make the people he was talking to realize and identify with their process of growing up. There is no word
in the bible, Greek or otherwise to define this term prodigal. This term prodigal is what the writers of the bible came up
with, as a definition to use to define this parable and you will only find the word in the margin. This word prodigal means;
that he squandered his money and was not using the Godly wisdom his father gave him and the allotment of its proper use. When
a person lives with being a slave to the sin principle a person errs and falls short of God's perfect will and squanders
his inheritance that He gave us when we were saved. This is what happens when we don't have our priorities in order and
we can not obtain the power to walk in obedience to God's leadings.
This
son was going through the normal process of learning how to define what his loving father was telling
him and trying to use his own reasoning on how to start thinking for himself. He was feeding on wordily concepts and these
concepts were coming into conflict of what his father had told him. In turn, he was torn between two different alternatives.
The bible says that by us going through this process, we will be fighting the good fight of faith. When one
fights; we're going to have conflict. We need to stop judging this process from an outward appearance
of right or wrong and realize that it's all part of us learning to grow up.
It makes no difference how much church you attend or how much bible you read or how much prayer in seeking
God. We still are going to be stretched and perplexed and miss God's best at times. This was God's intention
from the beginning. Somewhere in the process of preaching we lost the vision and purposes of God, as if we are living in some
vacuum of none or wrong feelings. It's always the feel goods and all we
hear is someday we will receive if we continue to believe. ! ( Ugh ) !
It becomes an endless circle of playing in the playpens of life and some how hanging on until Jesus comes back. We
have to stop using Novocain on our feelings and start getting real with ourselves and others.
It's not only OK' to hurt but it is necessary.
The physical body hurts when something is wrong. It
tells us something has to be fixed. How about our souls when it hurts. Let's start loving the real person inside us. When
are we going to come to the reality that, we are all prodigals in some areas of our lives and need the tender patience and
loving affection of God our Father and people around us? I have heard more preaching on condemning the prodigal, rather then
giving him credit for him trying to grow up and challenging himself to make a difference for good in this world system
of man. When we condemn and judge the prodigal, we condemn and judge the body of Christ. You wonder why there
are so many walking wounded in the body of Christ today. Let me make a very important point before we go on.
God is not in the problem solving business. He
is in the heart healing business. This is a difference between night and day.
This parable goes on to say, while
this young son was going through his ordeal and struggling with the lack in his life, he started to come to his senses
and was being reminded of all that his father told him. His fathers (Loving words) brought him back
to the roots or seeds that his father planted in him when he was at home, safe and secure. As he meditated on this, he wrestled
with great guilt because he felt unworthy to come back as his son and heir. He thought I
will go back and ask him to make me a servant.
In this process of thinking,
he made a decision to come out from his condition of denial and deal with the immaturity that still kept him bound to his
childish thinking and behavior. As he returned it says his father saw him from a far off and had compassion on him and hugged
him around the neck and kissed him. He then told his father that he did not feel worthy to be his son because; he had sinned
against heaven and in his sight. However, his father didn't hear him and put a ring on his finger and
gave him a new robe and shoes for his feet.
At
times as the Holy Spirit gives me the revelation of His thoughts, it makes me very thankful for God's patience and mercy
as He is absolutely unrelenting in pursuing every one of His lost sheep in their wanderings that are
being caught up in the thickets and crevices of life. Like a shepherd watching His sheep and as a parent watching their children
as they learn to crawl and walk in their physical lives. All of us in the body of Christ have to stay in a child like
trust in God our Father‘s care.
You will notice that the
older son got his inheritance from his father at the same time the younger did. It's obvious that he did nothing with
it. He became complacent because, when the younger brother returned and he saw, how his father lavished his affection and
threw this big party for him, he got angry, lashed out at his father and said, "You never threw any party
for me and I have been obedient, stayed at home, and never left your side." His father's answer was.
"You could have always interacted with me and experienced this joyful relationship I am having with your
younger brother. Why haven't you interacted with me and attempted like your brother to find the giftings and purpose of
your life."
Is it possible that there are many sitting
in the pews of churches today going through playing church and because, they do not understand how to get in touch with themselves
and have a passionate relationship with God, that they are living in a more acute sense of the sin principle then the throngs
of Christians living out side the camp and assemblies today? If you are finding it difficult at times understanding the will
of God in your life and you feel that you're failing in all areas. If you find that, you are dealing with a lot of anger
at situations not going your way. I say too you, you are most blessed for God comes to help the ones that get in touch with
their pain and begin to confess and cry out for help.
In Hebrews 5:13-14
Paul the Apostle writes, "every one who continues to feed on milk is obvious unskilled in the doctrine
of righteousness. In turn, we cannot conform to God's divine will in purpose, thought and action because
we are mere infants, not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses
and mental faculties are trained by practice to recognize the difference between what is morally
good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine law or human law."
If we are functioning as a young man or woman and are off the milk of the word and are now able to
eat meat, there is a condition that defines this stage. That being, we have to be skilled in this doctrine of righteousness.
It says that our senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discern between what is good
and noble verses what is evil and against either God or man's laws. To function in the concept of righteousness,
we have to have the main ingredient, which gives us the powers of young men and women in
the Lord.
The word of God has to be richly stored in our
heart and we need to be meditating on it day and night.
Having discernment is the spiritual awareness given to us by the Holy Ghost
that energizes our being and we talk about it with great joy with a firmness of belief. This means that, it's on your
mind and you can identify with the Holy Ghost talking to you. It's a dimension called walking
in the Spirit.
1 John 2:14 says, "you young
men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, you are now able to overcome the
wicked one." Lets look at this word abides and see exactly what it means. First of all what
it does not mean is, having a data bank of scripture in your head that you whip out on every opportunity
you get to show how knowledgeable you are in the word of God. The word abides in the Greek is meno: meaning,
to stay in a relationship of expectancy or a prospect of a hope to come. It also means to tarry and continue
to endure or to long for. This word tarry means to wait. In the Hebrew abides
is chakah: meaning to adhere to or to be moved upon sharply or deeply, as with emotion or pain. It also means to
penetrate as if seeing and understanding a mystery.
Isaiah 40:31
reads like this using the Greek and Hebrew definitions we just defined. "When we wait or stay in a
relationship of expectancy for God to open our eyes to new mysteries of His ways, there will be created in
us a great passion, emotion and pain as we are changed into His likeness. In turn, we will be renewed like the eagle and be
able to run and not be weary in our growing pains. We will walk and not faint." As you can see here with
only our logic, knowing the word of God is meaningless if, the relationship is not a living emotional oneness of God and us
allowing Him to make us into a God-man like our brother Jesus as He walked the planet. If this is not happening
in your life, don't live in denial and a false concept of your walk with the Lord.
If you know anything about the eagle, every so often he goes into hibernation, sheds his feathers and beak,
and gets new ones like a young eagle, which makes him soar higher over the earth. This is the example God gave Isaiah in this
scripture. God intention is for us to constantly be renewed as His Children. This process and relationship must be going on
with the Holy Spirit if we are to experience what Hebrews 5:13-14 is talking about when it says, "We will
be able to conform to God in purpose, thought and action."
As
we become skilled in the doctrine of righteousness, we will know that God loves us with
out conditions. When we were sinners, He died for us and we did nothing
to deserve His sacrifice. We need to continue to grow in this understanding or we will stay on the milk of the word and continue
to live as babies. This concept of righteousness and to become skilled at it is nothing more then
letting God love us through a living relationship with the Holy Ghost daily. Man in his basic nature has no concept of what
love is.
Love to mans basic nature is Hollywood stories. When true love comes
on the scene there is no strings attached to it. It's only by interacting this love relationship with God and allowing
Him to open the spiritual ears we received when we made Jesus our Savior; is what transforms us like the eagle. This Christian
relationship of us becoming a new creature in Christ started with a supernatural experience when Jesus in the person of the
Holy Ghost came into our lives. We will continually change into His likeness but only if; we are participate in the on going
miracle that took place the day we met Christ for the first time.
The
sin principle is like an atmosphere all around us that influences our thinking and is subliminal in nature. It affects the
mind without our conscious awareness.
It is only as we give the Holy Ghost permission to interact with our thought life that can make us
aware where the devil is at work trying to make us miss the mark of God's high calling that He has on our lives. This
is not a game of playing church or rules that we are told to follow but a serious business of growing up in Christ and walking
in Holy Ghost authority.
Continued in part 4