I love it when my spirit is "quickened" by an anointed Word. I feel the "tandom yoking" with another member of the Body of Christ and the feeling of pulling forward that oxen must feel when they are yoked with "equal strength" and can do what could not be done alone. We have that "yoking" with the Holy Spirit binding us together in Christ and our motto is indeed, "I can do all things through Christ Jesus Who strengthens me!" Yesterday, our Pastor brought a sermon from Acts 15 on His intentional church. (Our blogs are connected so you can track this down!) I felt like a person who has been on welfare all their lives and suddenly told he did not have to pay back anything but was free to become whatever he wanted to be! I am not going to "preach" his sermon but I am going to give you one of the questions he gave us. Why did Jesus not address the most difficult problem the early Church had to face when Gentiles were faced with Judaizers insisting on circumcision? I pondered this the rest of the day and was thinking on it when I awakened in the night and again this morning when a "light" went on in my spirit!
Jesus had a "mission" from the Father to accomplish on earth. He had to fulfill the first covenant with Israel before another covenant could be cut. He walked out the first completely according to the heart of the Father, not according to man's idea of the Law. The disciples, following Jesus, saw Him fulfilling the Law and the covenant, teaching the Father's heart in each aspect of that covenant, bringing it to a higher level of motivation rather than just the action. He only introduced the New Covenant at the Passover table just before His crucifixion. They could not be under the New Covenant until He had cut the covenant in His Blood.
After His resurrection, in His appearances and teaching them, He still did not bring them into the understanding of the expectations of the New Covenant. They would learn from the Holy Spirit, Who was to be their Teacher and Guide in laying a foundation for His Church. Just as Moses would teach Israel the expectation of their covenant, so the Holy Spirit would teach these Apostles, as He wrote it on their hearts. As the Church would be led in the future, so would it begin. Until they were filled with the Holy Spirit and became acquainted with His method of teaching, they could not understand the New Covenant or the new "nation" that would be birthed by that covenant. A new people, a new choosing, a holy nation was about to be revealed by a new "baptism". Paul became the product of that New Covenant when God separated him by sending him to the "wilderness" to be taught by the Holy Spirit.
The only way the Church today is going to be the power of God in this last day is by the Holy Spirit being our Guide and Teacher. The Holy Spirit will unite us to the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ, in a relationship not known when under the "headquarters" of man. Jesus gave us, the church, what we needed when He gave us the gift ministries. The Spirit separates those people to Jesus Christ. They are shaped into the ministries to His church so the body of Christ might be brought into the same maturity, filled with the same measure of the Holy Spirit, doing the same works that Jesus revealed in His walk among us. We need to be His church, shaped by His hand, led by His Spirit and His provision to us of ministers in tune with His purpose. "Yoked" together by His Spirit and purpose, we can be what He wants us to be!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Right to Repair
Revelation 3:14-22(NIV) 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
This letter to the Laodiceon Church presents Jesus, the Lord of Creation, the Head of the Church and King triumphant over all God's creation. He Who came to take our place of shame, now offers the right to share His place on the throne. He revealed the Way to the throne and told us to follow Him. To follow anyone, we have to keep them in our focus. The Apostle Paul showed us that, while not knowing Jesus in the flesh to follow Him, it is possible to follow Jesus and do His work by keeping our spiritual eye on Him. But first we must be able to "see" Him. In verse 17, we know that Jesus saw this church as blind, yet in verse 18 He offers the salve to put on their eyes to see. He saw this church as naked. We humans seek to be clothed with this world's ideas and do not know it is the Emporer's robe. A church may have the building and the signs proclaiming to all that they are a church and not know they have nothing to offer. The church can only give what they have. Peter said to the blind man at the temple gate, "Such as I have, I give to you..." Jesus offers the white raiment to clothe ourselves with. Revelation 19:7-8(NIV) 7Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
To every condition that would cause them to be rejected, Jesus offers something for them to do to correct and reverse. There are two key words in this offer Jesus holds out to this church. Be "earnest" and "repent". The wide road that is easy and leads to destruction lacks these two signs. The way back to God requires these two things. Earnestly seeking Him means a whole-hearted seeking. "Repent" is more than being fearful of punishment or sorry while being scolded. There must be a turning away from a familiar way and a turning toward a new way that is earnestly sought.
Two covenant actions are revealed. Jesus states that He will rebuke and discipline because He loves. The response that is required is earnest corrective action that reveals true repentance. Overcome the human tendency that created the condition that God must reject. The human tendency was to be rich in this realm's wealth. Now seek the gold that has been refined by fire and can only be purchased from the hand of Jesus. Do you remember the revelation of Jesus with feet like burnished bronze? That only comes from walking through fire and He did it for us. He walked out the Law and the rejection of men that He might please the Father in all things. This earned Him the sonship He can extend to us, if we walk in His Way. (Philippians 2:5-13) He is a son in two ways: begotten of God into this realm, and faithful and obedient in all ways to the Father while walking out our salvation. Gold represents the Diety. You must purchase this gold with your human nature in an exchange. Your nature for His! Your desires for His. Your motivations for His. Your pleasure for His. It will cost you everything. But this is your only opportunity to purchase!
He knocks at the door He created for you. That door opens the way for you into His eternal joy. Only you can respond to His knocking. You hold in your self the key to overcome or remain in your passivity and human understanding and need.
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
This letter to the Laodiceon Church presents Jesus, the Lord of Creation, the Head of the Church and King triumphant over all God's creation. He Who came to take our place of shame, now offers the right to share His place on the throne. He revealed the Way to the throne and told us to follow Him. To follow anyone, we have to keep them in our focus. The Apostle Paul showed us that, while not knowing Jesus in the flesh to follow Him, it is possible to follow Jesus and do His work by keeping our spiritual eye on Him. But first we must be able to "see" Him. In verse 17, we know that Jesus saw this church as blind, yet in verse 18 He offers the salve to put on their eyes to see. He saw this church as naked. We humans seek to be clothed with this world's ideas and do not know it is the Emporer's robe. A church may have the building and the signs proclaiming to all that they are a church and not know they have nothing to offer. The church can only give what they have. Peter said to the blind man at the temple gate, "Such as I have, I give to you..." Jesus offers the white raiment to clothe ourselves with. Revelation 19:7-8(NIV) 7Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)
To every condition that would cause them to be rejected, Jesus offers something for them to do to correct and reverse. There are two key words in this offer Jesus holds out to this church. Be "earnest" and "repent". The wide road that is easy and leads to destruction lacks these two signs. The way back to God requires these two things. Earnestly seeking Him means a whole-hearted seeking. "Repent" is more than being fearful of punishment or sorry while being scolded. There must be a turning away from a familiar way and a turning toward a new way that is earnestly sought.
Two covenant actions are revealed. Jesus states that He will rebuke and discipline because He loves. The response that is required is earnest corrective action that reveals true repentance. Overcome the human tendency that created the condition that God must reject. The human tendency was to be rich in this realm's wealth. Now seek the gold that has been refined by fire and can only be purchased from the hand of Jesus. Do you remember the revelation of Jesus with feet like burnished bronze? That only comes from walking through fire and He did it for us. He walked out the Law and the rejection of men that He might please the Father in all things. This earned Him the sonship He can extend to us, if we walk in His Way. (Philippians 2:5-13) He is a son in two ways: begotten of God into this realm, and faithful and obedient in all ways to the Father while walking out our salvation. Gold represents the Diety. You must purchase this gold with your human nature in an exchange. Your nature for His! Your desires for His. Your motivations for His. Your pleasure for His. It will cost you everything. But this is your only opportunity to purchase!
He knocks at the door He created for you. That door opens the way for you into His eternal joy. Only you can respond to His knocking. You hold in your self the key to overcome or remain in your passivity and human understanding and need.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Responding to God's Amen
Revelation 3:14-16 (NLT) 14 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation: 15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! 17 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
The identity revealed to the Church in Laodicea is a very powerful revelation with great meaning for our day. The "So be it" of God is a powerful statement. How I yearn to be the Amen of Jesus! Should the Church respond to the Nature and Being of Jesus and become the Amen of our Lord and Savior, we would make a powerful statement to our generation! There will be a remnant that makes that statement. It is our choice to be a part of that remnant!
To understand this identity of Jesus, we must turn to the revelation of Jesus that the Apostle Paul received of Him. Colossians 1:15-20 (NLT) 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. And again in Hebrews we see the purpose of God in sending His Son to this realm, for only through the revealing power of Jesus walking among us do we see what we are to become. Hebrews 1:2-3 (NIV)2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
This is the revelation given to the Church that has not given to God the response to the glorious covenant cut to give us the right to bear His image. Instead, the church in Laodicea has become what they desired to be: rich, successful in the eye of the age in which they live, powerful in their own control and passive toward God. This church ignores the desire of God, spurns His purpose for them, and continues in their own program as though God had never made such a sacrifice of love for them to become sons like the Son He sent to them.
There is a phrase in this that causes me to marvel. "I will spit them out of my mouth..." I know it is an expression of distaste and rejection, but it also expresses a condition of intimacy, of delightful anticipation on the part of God in His regard to His Church. In His watching over us, does He have this anticipation of sharing with us His joy in His eternal purpose? Does He taste the sweet honey of our response of worship and obedience and trust and our own anticipation of His joy? Does He find what pleases Him or is the taste He gets the bitter and putrid stench of our adamic nature of self-pity, criticism, and pride in what is decaying and putrid in His sight? Yes, there are deeds and works, but they are not the flow of His hand using the hand of the church. The deeds are not "cold" in that they are good works that man can produce. But they are not "hot" in that they are what the Father is doing! This church was not following in Jesus' footsteps. They were walking on their own road and not the Way Jesus revealed.
There is a human condition that does not see "past their own nose" to desire to see by the Spirit a realm in which God is. The new birth opens the door to dwell in that realm of spirit. So many Christians receive the new birth but never grow in their new inheritance. They do not develop the ears to hear or the eyes to see. They seek to please "man" but not God. They do not become a "sweet savor" to the Father. They do not "check" to see if they are pleasing to Him.
Yes, I agree with the many that say we live in the days of the church in Laodicea!
The identity revealed to the Church in Laodicea is a very powerful revelation with great meaning for our day. The "So be it" of God is a powerful statement. How I yearn to be the Amen of Jesus! Should the Church respond to the Nature and Being of Jesus and become the Amen of our Lord and Savior, we would make a powerful statement to our generation! There will be a remnant that makes that statement. It is our choice to be a part of that remnant!
To understand this identity of Jesus, we must turn to the revelation of Jesus that the Apostle Paul received of Him. Colossians 1:15-20 (NLT) 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. And again in Hebrews we see the purpose of God in sending His Son to this realm, for only through the revealing power of Jesus walking among us do we see what we are to become. Hebrews 1:2-3 (NIV)2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
This is the revelation given to the Church that has not given to God the response to the glorious covenant cut to give us the right to bear His image. Instead, the church in Laodicea has become what they desired to be: rich, successful in the eye of the age in which they live, powerful in their own control and passive toward God. This church ignores the desire of God, spurns His purpose for them, and continues in their own program as though God had never made such a sacrifice of love for them to become sons like the Son He sent to them.
There is a phrase in this that causes me to marvel. "I will spit them out of my mouth..." I know it is an expression of distaste and rejection, but it also expresses a condition of intimacy, of delightful anticipation on the part of God in His regard to His Church. In His watching over us, does He have this anticipation of sharing with us His joy in His eternal purpose? Does He taste the sweet honey of our response of worship and obedience and trust and our own anticipation of His joy? Does He find what pleases Him or is the taste He gets the bitter and putrid stench of our adamic nature of self-pity, criticism, and pride in what is decaying and putrid in His sight? Yes, there are deeds and works, but they are not the flow of His hand using the hand of the church. The deeds are not "cold" in that they are good works that man can produce. But they are not "hot" in that they are what the Father is doing! This church was not following in Jesus' footsteps. They were walking on their own road and not the Way Jesus revealed.
There is a human condition that does not see "past their own nose" to desire to see by the Spirit a realm in which God is. The new birth opens the door to dwell in that realm of spirit. So many Christians receive the new birth but never grow in their new inheritance. They do not develop the ears to hear or the eyes to see. They seek to please "man" but not God. They do not become a "sweet savor" to the Father. They do not "check" to see if they are pleasing to Him.
Yes, I agree with the many that say we live in the days of the church in Laodicea!
Monday, August 9, 2010
The Name of Covenant
As I have said in earlier discussions of covenant, the exchange of names is a very important part of the proof of the existence of a covenant. Taking the name, or a part of a name, of the instigator of the covenant, gives credence to the fact they are "in covenant", as well as the identity of the covenant-protector. The disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) In the covenants God has made with this realm there is progression allowed by the open-ended condition of covenant to include future generations. In the covenants God uses with this realm, there is progression from the natural realm to the spiritual and on into eternity. This is what we see in the letter to the church in Philadelphia. The Name given in the New Covenant Jesus gave to us will be changed in the next, eternal, covenant. We saw the importance of the Names of God in the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant, Jesus is the Name by which we are redeemed and come into full salvation.
Our covenant response to God in this New Covenant is to follow Jesus completely to become an overcomer. What do we overcome? Jesus has overcome the world (this realm of darkness)and death, the grave and the devil. Our Adamic nature and our link to this realm are our responsibility to overcome. That will involve our unbelief, our passivity to following in His footsteps, and our ignorance of spiritual matters. The last, our ignorance, is most dangerous, for it is most susceptible to Satan's temptation. We learn from our Teacher, Counselor, and Guide, the Holy Spirit. He opens the Word of God to us and will woo us into hunger and thirst for God, to know His Ways and obey His Word. To lean on the Holy Spirit is the only safe way to attain knowledge of the spirit realm. Overcoming our natural responses to any circumstance, our human motivation and our human understanding by trust and obedience to God's Word, is not an easy response. A religious ritual that does not interfere with our lives is much easier and opens the wide road that most travel.
Giving the response to the Covenant under which you live, opens the door to the next Covenant God makes with mankind. We now live under the banner of the Name, Jesus. A faithful response to Him now will open the door to receiving His new Name and a new name for us. We will go into His eternal purpose as a covenanted people.
Our covenant response to God in this New Covenant is to follow Jesus completely to become an overcomer. What do we overcome? Jesus has overcome the world (this realm of darkness)and death, the grave and the devil. Our Adamic nature and our link to this realm are our responsibility to overcome. That will involve our unbelief, our passivity to following in His footsteps, and our ignorance of spiritual matters. The last, our ignorance, is most dangerous, for it is most susceptible to Satan's temptation. We learn from our Teacher, Counselor, and Guide, the Holy Spirit. He opens the Word of God to us and will woo us into hunger and thirst for God, to know His Ways and obey His Word. To lean on the Holy Spirit is the only safe way to attain knowledge of the spirit realm. Overcoming our natural responses to any circumstance, our human motivation and our human understanding by trust and obedience to God's Word, is not an easy response. A religious ritual that does not interfere with our lives is much easier and opens the wide road that most travel.
Giving the response to the Covenant under which you live, opens the door to the next Covenant God makes with mankind. We now live under the banner of the Name, Jesus. A faithful response to Him now will open the door to receiving His new Name and a new name for us. We will go into His eternal purpose as a covenanted people.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Rewarding Response
There is something about the letter to the Church in Philadelphia that has always made me feel like a child sitting on a father's lap and listening to him tell of the wonderful things planned for the days ahead. It is a safe, comfortable and yet exciting feeling of anticipation. God has "a joy" planned for us that He anticipates opening to us, His children. There are thousands of His children who are looking to Him with joyful, loving hearts that say a heart-felt "Yes!" to His Word and expectation of obedient worship. It is the response of Job who said, "though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" Their focus is not on their own comfort or desires but on His desire. To please Him, to serve Him and to respond to His plan and purpose is their greatest desire. To spend time with Him in precious communion of thought and worship is the best part of any day. To these, He has a special message of purpose.
Revelation 3:11-13(NASB) 11'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
The ear to hear is the ear tuned to the Spirit of God, given to us to guide us, counsel us, and comfort us. He opens to us the realm of spirit where God is enthroned. His temple is that awesome place where worship is continually heard and Light dwells and music is visible. To most people this is a place they anticipate to see when they die because they "dwell" in this realm. When Jesus said, "if you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you," and this word "abide" means "dwell", He was not talking of heaven or life after death. I do not read this passage and say, "when I die", but I reach for this now. I want to dwell in His temple now, with praise and worship in my heart and on my lips, with His Light radiating in my spirit. I want to be a pillar in His temple now. (A pillar is a stable, permanent part of His temple!) I don't want to ever leave it no matter what circumstance may be in this realm! I can only do that if I overcome the control this realm has on me. I can only do that if I enter into His Rest! I can only do that if my control is given over to His hand and I refuse the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so I can eat of the tree of Life! I have to be an overcomer! I have to "dwell" in Him, not be an occasional visitor. My emotions can't be tapped by circumstances to go back into worry, frustration, discouragement and anger. You don't live with one foot in depression and one foot in joy. You can't live in two places at once. You only visit one or the other. When Jesus prayed that we would not be removed from this realm, He asked that we not be "of" this realm. I must confess, I feel like an "alien" most of the time. I can't feel a part of the "tube" or of most "casual" conversations. If you want to discuss His Word or His goodness, I can talk all day with you, but I can't think of much to say otherwise. I praise God I am beginning to make that switch to abiding in Him, but I haven't made it all the way, so I need the prayers of all of you. I pray for you that your heart will yearn more for Him than anything in this earthly realm. To hear His Voice, to understand His language, to dwell in His temple! The blessing of God go with you and fill your day!
Revelation 3:11-13(NASB) 11'I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. 13'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
The ear to hear is the ear tuned to the Spirit of God, given to us to guide us, counsel us, and comfort us. He opens to us the realm of spirit where God is enthroned. His temple is that awesome place where worship is continually heard and Light dwells and music is visible. To most people this is a place they anticipate to see when they die because they "dwell" in this realm. When Jesus said, "if you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you," and this word "abide" means "dwell", He was not talking of heaven or life after death. I do not read this passage and say, "when I die", but I reach for this now. I want to dwell in His temple now, with praise and worship in my heart and on my lips, with His Light radiating in my spirit. I want to be a pillar in His temple now. (A pillar is a stable, permanent part of His temple!) I don't want to ever leave it no matter what circumstance may be in this realm! I can only do that if I overcome the control this realm has on me. I can only do that if I enter into His Rest! I can only do that if my control is given over to His hand and I refuse the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil so I can eat of the tree of Life! I have to be an overcomer! I have to "dwell" in Him, not be an occasional visitor. My emotions can't be tapped by circumstances to go back into worry, frustration, discouragement and anger. You don't live with one foot in depression and one foot in joy. You can't live in two places at once. You only visit one or the other. When Jesus prayed that we would not be removed from this realm, He asked that we not be "of" this realm. I must confess, I feel like an "alien" most of the time. I can't feel a part of the "tube" or of most "casual" conversations. If you want to discuss His Word or His goodness, I can talk all day with you, but I can't think of much to say otherwise. I praise God I am beginning to make that switch to abiding in Him, but I haven't made it all the way, so I need the prayers of all of you. I pray for you that your heart will yearn more for Him than anything in this earthly realm. To hear His Voice, to understand His language, to dwell in His temple! The blessing of God go with you and fill your day!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Living in Awareness
Revelation 3:7-13 (NLT) 7 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open: 8 “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me. 9 Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love. 10 “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. 12 All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name. 13 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.
Jesus prefaces this letter with His identity of the victory of completion. He holds the key of David because He fulfilled the Davidic covenant. He opens doors to His realm because He triumphed over every closed door in this realm. He can close every door in this realm that man has opened because He remained faithful to His Father's will in all things and did not go through any door Lucifer or man opened to Him. We, His Church, inherit His victory. He opens a door to us that no man can close. He knows the limit of our strength and He values our faithfulness to His Name and His word. A part of that faithfulness is to walk in His steps and avoid the religious bypaths that man makes. Lucifer, in his desire to detour the worship of God to himself, creates religion to pacify and deceive all who are not willing to pay the price for Truth. So many walk that broad path. These are the ones who criticize and ostracize those who humbly walk in Jesus' footsteps. Man's education and achievements mean more than following the Spirit's leading and teaching. Pride of titles that man can give ignores the calling and placing of the Head of the Church. Jesus shows in this letter what He thinks of this. His love for His own will lift them in Him so His love for them will be recognized by all. His protection over them, the promise of all covenant, will cover them.
Our response to His love, to follow Him no matter how hard the path grows, is rewarded with His promise of immunity to the hour of testing that will come to this earth. This testing is greater than the assault that comes to the believer from Satan when he is given the same right over the church that he was given over Job. Much is stripped from us in this short period but nothing is stripped away that God does not restore in a double portion. Our patience through the stripping must be shown by our continual focus on the love and mercy of our Lord. We do not let circumstances dictate our place in Him or His love for us. Do not let any one's trial be your "evidence" for criticism or judgment. When Satan's hatred is vented on God's people, it is not because they have sinned, so let us not become Job's comforters. Stay close to the Lord and let His Spirit lead you. This is a difficult time but it is covenanted by His Word!
Jesus prefaces this letter with His identity of the victory of completion. He holds the key of David because He fulfilled the Davidic covenant. He opens doors to His realm because He triumphed over every closed door in this realm. He can close every door in this realm that man has opened because He remained faithful to His Father's will in all things and did not go through any door Lucifer or man opened to Him. We, His Church, inherit His victory. He opens a door to us that no man can close. He knows the limit of our strength and He values our faithfulness to His Name and His word. A part of that faithfulness is to walk in His steps and avoid the religious bypaths that man makes. Lucifer, in his desire to detour the worship of God to himself, creates religion to pacify and deceive all who are not willing to pay the price for Truth. So many walk that broad path. These are the ones who criticize and ostracize those who humbly walk in Jesus' footsteps. Man's education and achievements mean more than following the Spirit's leading and teaching. Pride of titles that man can give ignores the calling and placing of the Head of the Church. Jesus shows in this letter what He thinks of this. His love for His own will lift them in Him so His love for them will be recognized by all. His protection over them, the promise of all covenant, will cover them.
Our response to His love, to follow Him no matter how hard the path grows, is rewarded with His promise of immunity to the hour of testing that will come to this earth. This testing is greater than the assault that comes to the believer from Satan when he is given the same right over the church that he was given over Job. Much is stripped from us in this short period but nothing is stripped away that God does not restore in a double portion. Our patience through the stripping must be shown by our continual focus on the love and mercy of our Lord. We do not let circumstances dictate our place in Him or His love for us. Do not let any one's trial be your "evidence" for criticism or judgment. When Satan's hatred is vented on God's people, it is not because they have sinned, so let us not become Job's comforters. Stay close to the Lord and let His Spirit lead you. This is a difficult time but it is covenanted by His Word!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Response and Reward
In the letter to the church in Sardis, Jesus presented Himself as the victorious Lord of the church. The reward to the overcoming church in Sardis was the eternal position in His hand and the garment prepared for eternity. There is much said in the Revelation concerning garments and how a person appears clothed. Rev 19:7-8(NASB)7"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." 8It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb '" And he said to me, "These are true words of God." Ephesians 2:10(NASB) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
I see in this that God provides and we accept and move in His provision with faith in Him as our covenant response to Him and His provision. Our focus has to remain on Him, even when we are doing the work that is His will for us. If our focus waivers, we do not complete the work He gave us to do because if we waiver, the work becomes ours and not His.
The reward for the overcoming of this human hindrance of losing our focus is to be given the privilege of doing His works with faithful connection with Him and He will be faithful to us that we do not lose that connection. II Timothy 1:12(ESV) which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. In most translations that verse reads, "what I have entrusted..." But this translation points out that the works and the completion of the works is entrusted to us. I appreciate that He is able to guard not only the works but my fulfilling the same! I need that. I falter in my focus and need the Holy Spirit to bring me back to awareness too many times not to recognize my need for complete reliance on God.
I see in this that God provides and we accept and move in His provision with faith in Him as our covenant response to Him and His provision. Our focus has to remain on Him, even when we are doing the work that is His will for us. If our focus waivers, we do not complete the work He gave us to do because if we waiver, the work becomes ours and not His.
The reward for the overcoming of this human hindrance of losing our focus is to be given the privilege of doing His works with faithful connection with Him and He will be faithful to us that we do not lose that connection. II Timothy 1:12(ESV) which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. In most translations that verse reads, "what I have entrusted..." But this translation points out that the works and the completion of the works is entrusted to us. I appreciate that He is able to guard not only the works but my fulfilling the same! I need that. I falter in my focus and need the Holy Spirit to bring me back to awareness too many times not to recognize my need for complete reliance on God.
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