A. Righteousness and Love:
In the Greek the word righteousness is dikaios; it means
we are innocent and holy in God's sight. Righteousness does not mean judging our self in right and wrong concepts as most
Christians believe. The word for love is agape: It is God's intension to continually
show His goodwill towards us at all times. I am putting these to attributes together because; if you are not experiencing
God's true love that he has for you then; you will not understand that when you were born again; God put a white robe
of righteousness on you that makes you look pure in His sight. That robe literally means; you put on Christ Jesus and the
same righteousness that God the Father sees in Jesus; He now also sees in us. This white robe forever covers our sin nature
and God no longer judges us as sinners because; Jesus dealt with it at the cross. God's love never condemns His children
and His love is perfectly defined in 1 Cor. 13.
Unless God's children get
a revelation from the Holy Ghost of God's kind of love; they will never understand their total acceptance from their Heavenly
Father and they will end up looking for love in all the wrong places and become a slave to human impulses and stay cripples
all of their life. I will paraphrase this chapter that describes God's love towards us.
In
1 Cor 13:4-13 Paul says. "God‘s love towards us is patient and kind, not envious, boastful, or proud. It is not
rude, self seeking, easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs against it. God's love never delights in evil but
rejoices with the truth, it always protects, trusts, hopes and raises children. God's love never fails. Where there are
prophetic utterances, they will cease; where there are tongues; they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass
away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection
comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked, thought, and reasoned as a child. However; when I became a
man, I put childish things away. We now see but a poor reflection in a mirror; however there will be a time when we will see
Jesus face to face. I know in part now; but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. So for now there are three
things that exist; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
I
don't believe there will be a person who lives for eternity including my self that has enough words to define the total
affection that God wants to bestow on man kind and His children. God's affection for us has to be felt with deep passion
if we intend to subdue all fear entities of loss or abandonment which the devil wants to inflict on God's kids. If a person
was to read this chapter and meditate on it for a month and allow the Holy Ghost to give them a greater understanding of how
God loves them; it would cause them to be delivered from any bondage of low self esteem, guilt and shame that the devil has
inflicted on them through His fear tactics and they will be able to learn how to rest in God's love.
When Paul talks about perfection; it is not about arriving at a certain destination of maturity.
Maturity in God is not a destination but a growing relationship of allowing God to constantly love on us and us being able
to receive it. We are talking about having a transparent relationship with a living Father God who loves to have fellowship
with his children. We grow in our relationship with God our Father as we are already righteous and perfected in His sight.
Our participating in this love relationship empowers us to put away our childish ideas of God loves me and He loves me not.
B. Godliness:
The word for Godliness in the Greek is eusebia: It means;
piety, to adore and be told well done. A person who has piety is obedient to God and to their parents. When some one adores;
they love somebody intensely. Our godliness is sown into our righteous robe of Christ Jesus. We do not work at becoming godlier.
Our godliness is what we inherited from our born again experience of becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus the day we were
born again. Christ Jesus was godly because God was His Father. Jesus is our brother therefore; God is our Father. I know that
what I have said here in many Christian circles will think that I am crazy. Why? It sounds too easy.
That's because they have been told that they have to work hard at trying to be good doers and
keep their nose to the grind stone and if they continue to labor like this; they will eventually become Godly people. God
the Father says well done to His children because; it is what He made His children to be not what they have to do and the
day we became born again He sees us as He sees Christ Jesus His first born Son.
Paul
the Apostle states this in Romans 9:16, "The gift of God is not a question of human will and human effort but of God's
mercy. It depends not on ones own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race; but on God having mercy
on him"
As I have said; this is a difficult concept to understand because;
the entity of fear that the devil uses are the tactics that he used even in the Garden of Eden; when he made Adam and Eve
believe that; God made them incomplete. He is still trying to tell God's children that they are incomplete and they have
to help God out and it has caused them to feel responsible to carry some un-righteous burdens that at times task you to despair.
We pursue godliness by surrendering to the image and believe what God says about us; not what we may believe about our self
or what we are being taught in most circles of church assemblies who are preaching measuring up concepts to be accepted by
God.
C. Faith:
Faith is the Greek word pistis: It means us having a dependency
upon Christ for salvation. A Christian goes through a persuasion process with the Holy Ghost and the truth that we are hearing
from Him is setting us free from any entities of fear that are trying to manipulate and stop us from living in receiving God's
loving directions. A person grows in faith by having a passion and priority of being a God seeker. Faith is having our opinions
and goals becoming like mind with God. God tells His children to come and reason with Him and even though we have our own
ideas of how to live in peace with God; His patience and undying love secures our soul even though; we are our worst enemy.
God's faith pacifies or calms us when we are agitated and soothes violent or angry feelings. The spirit of fear brings
with it uncertainty and thoughts of loss, abandonment and loneliness.
Now one
of the devil's ploys is to Novocain these passionate feelings with in us with drugs, perversions of all kind and wanting
us to sleep our life away rather then contend for our life of faith. A Christian must be constantly experiencing God‘s
loving holding power because; this is the motivation and strength we need to fight the good fight of faith.
We first
must have God give us a vision of the playing field that we are living in and then realize that; we have to allow God to use
His power to perform the every day activities of life trusting in His guiding wisdom. True faith is the life of God though
our conversations with the Holy Ghost speaking into our inner thought life that begins with a promise spoken into our heart
where the issues of life are formed and acted on. It is as we begin to believe what the Holy Ghost is telling us and then
confessing these truths with our mouth; that they become physical evidence. Faith is a living word from a living person who
teaches us to put away our childish thoughts and ways and become grown up mature children in God's kingdom.
Paul states this in Galatians 2:20-21. "I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST AND I NO LONGER LIVE,
BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME AND THE LIFE THAT I AM NOW LIVING; IN MY PHYSICAL BODY; I AM LIVING BY FAITH IN THE SON OF GOD, WHO
LOVED ME AND GAVE HIM SELF FOR ME. THEREFORE, I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD. (GRACE IS GOD'S DIVINE FAVOR THAT I
DO NOT HAVE TO EARN.) FOR IF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS COMES BY ME BEING CONFORMED TO PERFORMANCE ACTS AND RULE ORIENTATED THOUGHTS.
THEN; CHRIST DIED FOR NOTHING."
We must allow Christ to live His life in
us as He lived it in Jesus when He walked the earth. God becomes man every time a person becomes born again. Jesus lived by
an inner conviction and prompting from His Heavenly Father and had confidence that God would never let Him down even to the
dying on the cross.
! Now that is some kind of miracle faith trusting!
D. Patience:
The Greek word for patience is hupomone: It means to stay under God's authority
and trusting Him no matter what trials of life come against you. It's like us living in a thicket, or undergrowth, in
which game hide in to seek shelter. Living in the love of the Lord means; the hidden man of the man of the heart. We are going
through a constant renewal of the intents and purposes of our heart. This type of influence gives us a meek and quit spirit
because; we are not getting frustrated to the point that our peace is being destroyed. A born again child of God can not live
like this unless; they are being influenced and being persuaded of the love God the Father has for them. Peace and security
only comes when you really know that God loves you and you are interacting that love with Him.
E. Meekness:
The Greek word for meekness is pra, otes: It means being gentle and humble. A child of God
that is truly walking in humility is not puffed up in wanting to do their own thing. Humble people recognize with great passion
and perseverance their need to abandon them self on God's favor and that; they do not have to earn it. Through the many
years of understanding God ways and being trained and submitting to His authority; the very recognition of how God has patiently
loved me and never condemns me; just gives me a thankful heart where I have learned to hide in a place of refuge with Him
when the storms of life hit.
Only people who pursue meekness and walk with a reverential
fear of the Lord can recognize the devil's devices. They depend and seek God‘s counsel on all matters to get His
advice on how He would handle things that they get involved in. God can not protect His children if; they do not trust His
wisdom. Most Christians who live their life alienated from God their Father's protective hedge do so because; they live
in such guilt and shame and they can not understand how God could accept them in this condition. This has always been the
problem in God's kids and why they can not go into the inner court with God and enjoy His presence.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:9 "Let your love be sincere; hate what is evil (Loathe all un-godliness,
turn in horror from wickedness) but hold fast to that which is good."
Because
our basic human nature was made to love by seeking things for perfection; if we are ignorant of God's love; it causes
us to become addicted to doing some things very much. Scripture tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. There
is nothing wrong with wanting money; it is when we thrive after it in self seeking endeavors or we worry and get frustrated
that we don't have enough to live on and pay the bills etc. Neither of these two examples is God love focused. Receiving
any thing that is good can only come to reality by us experiencing God's love giving it to us His children.
A Christian not truly experiencing God's love; will not be able to identify this principle trying
to control their life. As we experience God's love; we can put into words our living love relationship with God and we
come to know what real love represents. With out the revelation of what I have just stated, you can not truly understand what's
ungodly and wicked and run from it.
I can't remember all of God's kids
that I have talked to over the years and tears who say they love the Lord; however; they live their whole life with one foot
in the kingdom and the other foot in the world searching for love in all the wrong places. This has caused them to sow seeds
of fear creating great anger with in them self. This causes them to live in shame and have a loathing for them self which
brings them to despair. All this causes them to not feel worthy to approach their Heavenly Father because; they don't
believe He really loves and accepts them.
Now there are many degrees of this
condition. All Christians are fighting this type warfare however; there are very few that recognize it and are being taught
how highly God esteems them even though their behavior is still growing and they are having growing pains. Only experiencing
God's love heals, matures and beings true kingdom life with understanding to His children.
Continued in part
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