OUR CHRISTIAN ARENA OF LIFE

PART TWO

In 11Timothy 2:15 Paul tells Timothy how to be delivered. He says, “Study to show himself approved a workman unto God that will no more be dominated by shame because; he will with a righteous Spirit be able to divide the word of God.” When a person rightly divides, they recognize the Devils manipulations and are every day being set free to explore their relationship with God with real freedom and being delivered from their shame and any self hate nature. It should be a no brainer to Christians to understand the non-saved. They are addicted to living in shame.

They are doing what they should be doing (living in sin) because, their nature has not been changed. They are a slave to sin because they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them. This shadow that we live in is the Devil using different disguises in different settings trying to influence and confuse the believer so they can not fulfill their destiny in God’s kingdom. The destiny that He ordained for them from the beginning.

The Ten Commandments were instituted by God to make people aware of the fact that they were breaking them and that; they had no will power to obey them. This in turn made them aware that they needed someone’s help to live the Christian life. Remember a Christian is a follower of Christ. He is not following a bunch of rules and regulations being taught to Him. The word sin in the Greek is harmatano: meaning, erring, missing the mark, losing our allotment and not sharing in a prize.

The Apostle Paul defines sinful behavior among other places in the scriptures in Galatians 5:19-21. This is what he says. “ Now the consequences or acts of the flesh that become obvious are, immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger ill temper, selfishness, divisions, party spirits, sects with peculiar opinions, (meaning heresies) envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

When we function in this stupor or sin conscience mentality that we are talking about, our inheritance which is already in us is put on hold and we can not enjoy it because of our ignorance and lack of understanding. When the doctrine of righteousness is not being taught with its true meaning in Christian circles, the born again believer is controlled by faulty interpretation of God’s word and it puts limits on his freedom to approach and ask God for the needs and wants that He intended for us.

By us allowing the Holy Spirit to identifying to us daily those areas of our unrighteous thinking, we will be able to be set free from living in our fleshly cravings. Our righteousness in Christ has nothing to do with right and wrong concepts of reasoning. When we reason in right and wrong concepts, we put judgments on ourselves and others. Scripture tells us not to judge but, to live with a forgiving spirit for ourselves and others. Judging is demonic in nature and when we accepted Jesus into our hearts, we are no longer to live by this manipulated process.

This sin conscious condition that most Christians live in is caused by a lack of Godly teaching and it is a dis-grace meaning, the grace and loving kindness and mercy of God is not being taught with clarity among believers. A sinner is one who has never been born again. A born again believer is not a sinner but a Saint. This very principle is the main obstacle which has the majority of Christians living in a weakened state in their walk with the Lord. Let’s look at some scripture to prove this conclusion or belief.

In 1 John 3:1-11 John states, “Do we see what an incredible quality of love the Father has given us that, we should be considered as being a child of God? The world or non- saved does not understand us because; they do not know God intimately. Even though we are His children we do not know yet what we are truly becoming. However, when we finally see Jesus face to face we will be like Him. Now if we are firmly grounded in this hope, we stay in a purified state or ( interpret scripture properly through the Holy Spirit’s leadings) and we understand that, God our Father already looks at us as being purified in His sight.

That is what sin does; it breaks one of God’s laws. Jesus became a man and walked among us to die on a cross and this act alone took away this entity { which is a living being of deception } and produces the outward behavior of sinful conduct which had us living in a sin conscience mentality from birth. In Jesus there is no sin and there never can be any. No one who Jesus has accepted can sin. If a person sins, he has never personally known the Lord. Do not let anybody deceive you; once you are righteous you are always righteous just as Jesus is righteous. We are the same as He is. If a person sins, he is has been taken captive by the devil because the Devil was a sinner from the beginning. This is why Jesus came to earth so He could destroy this slavery that man was addicted to. A person that is born again does not commit sin because God’s nature lives in him.

This concept of people losing their salvation after being born again that has been preached is the principle doctrine of the Devil that the body of Christ has become stupored into for years. We must become deep rooted in the love of the Lord with a fatherly vision of God in our heart and mind.

A parent who loves their children no matter how many growing pains that they have will never give up on them and see that they are harmed and discarded in any form. When conditional love themes are taught in Christian settings it is because the ones doing the teaching do not really know what their position of security in Christ represents.

Scripture tells us that it is better that not many consider themselves to be teachers lest they become a stumbling block and offend one of God’s own. The job of the five fold ministry with in the body of Christ is to teach this doctrine of righteousness! PERIOD!

When this is done, the Holy Spirit can with much freedom in the believer reveal His will with a joy and peace that transcends the mind and will of mankind.

In 1John 1:7-10 &2:1 he states, “When we walk in the light, as Jesus is in the light, we will have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s son cleanses us from all sin and guilt. If we say that we are not a sinner, we deceive ourselves and the truth which is (Jesus Himself) does not live with in us. However, if we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and keep us clean from all unrighteous thinking. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word (Jesus Himself) does not live with in our heart. My little children, (you that have just become born again) these things I am writing to you that you will not violate God’s law and sin.

However, if any one should sin, we need to let the Holy Spirit remind us that, we have an advocate (one who has already interceded on our behalf) to God the Father; He is Jesus Christ the Righteous one or the sinless one.” We can clearly see here that a person that sins is one who does not have Jesus in their hearts. Only Jesus is described in scripture as the word, the truth and the life.

It was by us realizing that we were a sinner and breaking God’s laws that made us ask Jesus to come into our lives and set us free from a sin conscience mentality. Scripture tells us that all of us have sinned and have to acknowledge this to become born again. John when addressing the young ones in Christ needed to remind them that they had already been delivered from the sin conscience mentality of trying to obey the Ten Commandments or the breaking of God’s laws. Remember, a person is only a sinner when he lives by trying to keep the Ten Commandments in his own strength.

Paul in Romans 8:3-4 states, “God did what the Law could not do, because man can not obey the Law in his own strength, he needed the Holy Spirit. By sending His own Son disguised as sinful flesh, He offered His own life and paid the penalty for our sins and empowered us to obey the Law by His own sacrifice. In turn, once we are born again, we become righteous as He is righteous and the requirements of us having to trying to obey the Law is forever done with and is a closed issue. So now, we are to live by every word that comes out of the mouth of God through the Holy Spirit and when we operate in this spiritual arena with God, He will empower us to be obedient.”

This idea of obeying laws is something that the body of Christ has to be weaned off of after they become born again believers. When one is weaned, they come off of drinking milk and start eating solid food. If you have been saved for any number of years and still think that you are a sinner and do not know your righteous position as a Saint in God’s courts. You have been robbed by the Devil and deceived by man and are living a prison sentence for something that you were pardoned from the day you made Jesus your Savior.

This condition actually restricts our development in conforming to the life of Christ in our expressions and stops us from confessing out of our mouths and claiming our inheritance that we received from God the day we became born again believers. Unless the body of Christ starts with this foundation of our righteous position in Christ nothing can be built into the Christian life that has any significance.

5). “Even though I am 1.walking threw the 2.valley of the 3.shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” There is no escape from anyone of us from walking threw this valley that casts a shadow of death. This shadow causes us to fear and makes us feel from time to time that, we are dying physically or spiritually.

Eph. 6:12 says, “We are not struggling against people who are physical opponents, but against the pain and insensitive ruler ship from controlling spirits of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.”

We must come to grips with the reality of this and understand that this Christian life that we became born into the day we made Jesus our Savior made us enter into battle and we need to know how to handle the trials and adversities of life that constantly come against all of us.

When we do not operate in our true anointing in our righteous position in Christ, the born again church tries to dance, sing and do everything in its own power to emotionally have the feel goods and our root and position of security in Christ never takes on substance. Unless each one of us function in our anointing and begin to exercise our individual right to hunger and thirst after God in our daily experiences, we will never walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s now define some of the terms in this verse from the Hebrew.

1.) Walking: meaning, to grow, be lead and to wander to and fro. We are all going through this process daily. However, the unsaved and the majority of the saved peoples do not recognize that, God’s concerns and eyes are continually watching and motivating all peoples to find their true origin and wholeness in Him. We must come to understand that, God made a plan that all things whether they are either good, bad or indifferent that transpires in our lives, will lead us to Him and we will discover the unconditional love that He has always wanted for us to experience.

Most Christians because they do not know how God’s protective hedge works, live in a total amazement when tragedy strikes in any areas of their lives and in the lives of others.

2. Valley: meaning, a gorge or obstructions in a passage like a mass of ice obstructing a river because of its lofty sides; therefore it is a narrow way, but not like living in a violent winter storm. It also means the body or the process of the person themselves going through a metamorphoses or character change and developing into maturity. In our lives we have obstructions which the bible describes as a fleshly arrogance which is a strong feeling of a pride or self-importance.

These are expressed by treating ourselves and other people with contempt or disregard that hinders God from hollowing out our souls so He can make room for Himself to completely flow through us with His Righteous Spirit. This is the curse that plagues all mankind when He is leaning towards his own understanding and not co-operating with the Holy Spirit for change. When we do not co-operate with the Holy Spirit, we stay in a state of not being sincere, genuine, and we never realize our significance of God’s love and how highly He esteems us in His sight. This process that we are all going through has to stop being interpreted as God getting even because, we have committed some great sin that is unforgivable. When we think like this, it brings on us despair and a feeling of instability that says. “God loves me and He loves me not.”

This conditions which we defined in our own thinking as unusual winter storms of life are nothing more than God using these conditions to germinate and let grow from a seed a new individual from His word, which we have sown in our hearts and in turn takes root and makes us grow strong and straight. This is what the teaching of righteousness does for the believer as we gather together and talk and roll model it to each other.

It acts as a reminder among other things that, our trials and how we relate to them should be encouraging us not to despair because, we can now define our growing pains and how God is in control of our lives.

When we try to hold on to God for our security, it hinders us to live by Jesus faith which gives us a spiritual awareness that His faith is more powerful then physical substance.

Man’s idea of security is what he can see, smell, taste and feel in His physical senses. If we are going to walk in righteousness, our maturity will only come by us hearing and recognizing every word that comes out of the Holy Spirits mouth as we seek Him on a personal basis. This type of spiritual awareness has to be brought to our attention under anointed Holy Spirit teaching. We have to continually be reminded where ever we gather in Christ’s name, whether in a church settings or in our every day travel at home or in the market places of life, to practice the presence of God.

If Jesus was still here in His physical body and we were walking with Him, we would be acknowledging and be talking to Him where ever we went. When He hung out with His disciples back when He walked the earth, even though they physically handled Him and saw the glory of God resting on Him they still took Him for granted. He was just one of the guys. If they actually saw His glory back then and took Him for granted, God forgive us for our religious pride and lackadaisical attitude in not hungering and thirsting after Him in these lasts days.

Where there is no passion there can be no personal intimate relationship.

3. Shadow of death: meaning, phantom, (something felt with no physical presence) or an illusion (something that deceives the senses or the mind, for an example, it is something that appears to be one thing when it is in fact something else as a vain show. When things are vain they lack quality of substance. This also represents an idol worship of something other than the true knowledge of God’s ways.

This idea that the Hebrew describes as a phantom means, an apparent power or somebody or something that appears to have power over somebody but it has no reality. Reality is the every day things of life we have to deal with. Scripture tells us that, “the Devil is a very real force and he goes around as a roaring lion seeking to devour people or trying to lead them astray.” Even though he has the ability to deceive us as born again Christians, we must walk in the Spirit so we will know his devices and the reality of his presence in thought and actions should no longer deceive us because our reality with substance is the Holy Spirit and His leadings.

When reading and meditating on the New Testament writings, you cannot help but notice that the biggest conflict and challenges that Jesus had was with the personal attacks of the Devil in His temptings as He was being led by the Holy Spirit in His wilderness walk. This life that we live in is our wilderness walk as we are being lead by the Holy Spirit, the same way He was led.

However, He was also always challenged by the religious leaders of that day. The Romans might have carried out the sentence of nailing Jesus to the tree, but the religious leaders of that day did the Devil’s bidding in having Jesus crucified, even though God‘s turned His crucifixion around as the greatest victory for mankind. When we are influenced and participate in being influenced by the Devils thoughts, it is because of our ignorance that we live in by not really knowing the word of God and we are not able to flow in His Righteous Spirit. This is why the born again believer is plagued by behavior contrary to holy living. As I have said. It should be a no brainer to Christians to understand the non- saved. They are addicted to living in shame. They are doing what they should be doing (living in sin) because, their nature has not been changed. They are a slave to sin because they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them.

This shadow that we live in is the Devil using different disguises in different settings trying to influence and confuse the believer so they can not fulfill their destiny in God’s kingdom that He ordained for them from the beginning. Now it is difficult enough to live under this demonic attack every day when we are awake or sleeping out side a Church setting. The church or the body of Christ is (supposed to be a sanctuary or a safe place and hospital of rest to people who are being persecuted.) This is where people gather who have a like passion in following Jesus example.

Scripture tells us that if we lift up the Lord Jesus, He will draw all men unto Himself. I have visited different churches over these last twenty years and I have found that the majority are teaching every other doctrine but the doctrine of our righteous position in Jesus Christ. What’s going on in Christian television has me concerned with the cavalcade of stars walking across our stages. The arrogance and attitude of them having God in their pocket has got me at times amazed at the antics and emotional hype that they believe is a leading of the Holy Spirit. It is sad to say that, the example of following Christ to the body of Christ is their giftings and talents that are God given and their priority is to parade themselves and let every body have a chance to show their wares. Sometimes in watching some Christian programming it reminds me of many years ago watching on Sunday night the Ed Sullivan talent show.

When does the body of Christ begin to walk in power, rather then being constantly telling people to send me your money and buy this book or cassette and wait on this promise and God is going to do this and this is the year of this happening and so on and so on and so on? When we veer from understanding and operating in Christ’s Righteous Spirit, we become religious and as I said become empire builders and not live as a kingdom resident. Religion in some so called Christian circles is considered to be a good thing when in reality it only brings the listener into a deeper bondage to our shame based nature.

The spirits and principalities of religion in its many forms is the real enemy that we face and are being influenced with daily. In Colossians 2:15-23 Paul the Apostle tells us, “God disarmed the principalities and powers that had been raging against us and made a bold and public display of them when He died on the cross. Therefore, don’t let anyone sit in a position of authority over your life. Don’t let them tell you that there are certain foods you can not eat or that, there are certain special days of the year or that, you have to celebrate or give you any ritualistic opinions. Such things are only a shadow of things that are taking place and they have only a symbolic value. The real reality to the born again believer that has substance is our bonded relationship with Jesus Christ and this reality should be dominant over all these other realities.

Let no one deprive you by acting as an umpire and telling you that you are unworthy and saying that there are things that disqualify you for living in your inheritance. They make you degrade your self by telling you that, you have to worship in certain ways, believe in visions which are only sensual experiences which are exaggerated expressions inflated by unspiritual thoughts and fleshly imaginations.

What we have here is denomination doctrine in its many forms. The most asked question I hear in my daily travels as I get the opportunity to share the gospel is, “what church do you belong to.” My answer is, “We all who are born again are the embodiment of the Church independently.”

The scripture that states, we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in these last days has become so distorted to the point that the Catholic faith teaches. People commit a mortal sin when they do not attend mass on Sunday and if they die in that state they go to hell. This mortal sin business is absolutely one of the most obligated fear tactic and false doctrines ever perpetrated by man to bring people into bondage and slavery to their shame based nature. In the Protestant church circles, we tell people to get saved and make sure that they attend church on Sunday. We should be telling them how to begin to become independent, come along side them and show them how to begin to meditate on the scriptures and learn about the Holy Spirits leadings and what Kingdom living is all about.

The Devils devices are totally focused and geared to destroy and cause death to a Christian in having a vital and exciting life in his relationship with the Holy Spirit, who is our teacher and comforter in our valley walk. The devil’s influence is not something that we should be ignoring and to be taken lightly. This word death in the Hebrew is described as a pestilence or an epidemic of a highly contagion or infectious disease such as bubonic plague, or something evil like a harmful evil belief, influence, or presence. Bubonic plague is a disease that contaminates the lymph nodes of the body which protects the body from the risk of infection in a physical sense. In the spiritual sense, Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “we need to be watchful and alert in guarding our own heart’s because out of it flows the springs of life.”

We said earlier that the heart is where the center of a man’s character is formed. When our heart has springs operating in it, we have the ability to be very sensitive and have a vital awareness of the presence and voice of the Holy Spirit to speak to us at any given moment.

When we ingest into our minds thoughts and attitudes contrary to the Holy Spirits leadings, a seed is planted that infects our hearts and we in comparison to bubonic plague, can not fight off the shame nature infection that has control over our lives.

Jesus in Mark 4:23-24 says, “If any man has ears to hear, let him pay close attention and especially notice some things that escape most people and be able to discuss what you have heard. Also be careful to what you are listening to. The measure and thought and study of the truth you hear will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you and a greater measure you will also receive.”

This word virtue means a perfecting in our understanding of our righteous position in Jesus Christ. As we are being influenced under anointed teaching of what righteousness means, it will keep us in a hunger and thirsting after the presence of God and our knowledge of the intension of God’s heart will become our intensions and increase rapidly. On the other side of the coin, if we are sitting under religious teachings, we will receive a religious measure that will continually increase and our shame based nature will dominate our lives. It is the Devils tactics to cast this shadow of his influence of shame in churches and in our daily walk in the market places of life. God is patience and faithful in His pursuit to guide and to show an unending mercy for His children even when the body of Christ has no awareness of His presence working in their lives.

4. Fear meaning, to frighten and to force somebody by driving them. Being driven verses being led are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. God’s sheep are led where the Devils tactics are to drive people. This type of fear brings anxiety and unpleasant feelings of apprehension or distress caused by the presence or anticipation of danger. It is caused by having fearful thoughts and an idea that causes feelings of irrational worry of receiving bad news and that there is a chance or likelihood of undesirable things are going to happening to you. Fear in its many forms immobilizes a person and they stagnate, fail to develop and make necessary changes. This is what a sheep does when it is alarmed by impending danger by predatory animals. All they know how to do is stand still and bleat. When this type of condition exists there is no lying down in green pasture.

Jesus tells us, “The Devil comes to steal, kill and destroy but that He has come to bring us life more abundantly.” We must know how to aggressively pursue our new life that Jesus gave us the day we became born again. The emotion of fear is so real in many of our lives that the only way it can be driven out is for us to be experiencing daily the love of the Lord. Scripture tells us that, “perfect love casts our fear” We need to understand that fear has to be cast out with deliberation and force. The Devils tactic is to cloud our thinking. This can only happen when we do not know his devices. So that we don’t get in touch with the unpleasantness of our feelings of fear, we cover it with the emotion of anger. Many people today are dominated by fear and anger and totally frustrated because they are seeking God the way they have been told to and it is not working in their life.

In turn, they regress into living in denial and stay in the shadows and never become a vital thriving joyous believer. When the true love of the Lord is not being experienced and being participated with in the fellowship of the believer, there is no middle ground of safety where they can rest from the bombardment of the devil to dump his fear spirit into their minds. It is the believer who has to live a life of meditating on the word of God day and night and have the Holy Spirit weld God’s word deep into our very being to the point as our minds are being constantly bombarded with the devils thoughts the Holy Spirit will constantly be reminding us of what the word of God says about the devils lies.

When we meditating on the word of God day and night, there will be times when we will have no adversity and the word of God will be easily understood. That is the atmosphere of day. In the night time it means, we will be in a combat situation in our minds through outward pressures and it is then we must be consistent and continue to seek God. God doesn’t want us to hide in denial, but to face our enemy head on and take our authority over him in speaking the word of God to him.Continued in part three