The Renewal (part?)

Many have believed and accepted the thought that"Knowledge is Power" and some have made this alone to be their God that now rules their world. sw

Where suffering is the least desirable of considerations, sin takes the victory. sw

The ancients have surely spoke wisdom before God, yet who will be wise and take heed. sw 

Job 13:5
"If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom". NIV

Zeph 1:7
Be silent before the Sovereign LORD, for the day of the LORD is near.
The LORD has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited. NIV

Prov 12:5-6

5 The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.
NIV

Many have refused to look into why the blood of bulls and goats could not forever satisfy the full requirement(s) of God concerning the SIN of a man.

How easy it for a man that was given dominion over the animals which roam the earth to then kill and offer them unto the Lord? As if it that sacrifice would somehow truly touch a mans heart enough he too felt a part of the suffering which brought about cleansing by an animal he might also choose to eat in another day?

How easy today has it become in a world increasingly being filled with calloused hearts where the heart of a father has become numb when He see's his own OR the son of another die? The son who suffered the lost opportunity to know the heart of having also become a father?

A man that has died and that because of something one or both neglected to honor and observe as something of true value and that as the life lived and realized as the importance only one kind of love that only a father can show forth as a son of God?

Some look to the stars for signs of things to come yet they'll ignore that the sons of God will shine like the stars in heaven in the day that is "Coming".

The day when the Sons of God are revealed for who they are because of the mercy that found them and who they increasingly became like as each walked the face of the earth within the same knowing and awareness as to whom they each also belong to.

Without hope that is true, so to the man who grasp at water with the open hand hoping to quench his thirst.

Man continues to ignore the not so obvious consideration's God desires. Desires which have been placed on display for all to see. Man fails to truthfully examine Gods "Image" as he hides behind the cloak of the flesh.

The image as though the presence and evidence through and by which God has put on display concerning the power and strength of His glory. Such power that is at work within those who have believed not only in Christ but also one day to be revealed having been "Found" to in Christ.

1 Cor 10:31-11:1
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God . Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
NIV

Man will look to the clouds, hear the thunder roll and cautiously watch flashes of lightning cross the horizon in anticipation of the Lords return. Yet as soon as the storm has passed it becomes business as usual while blending once again into the greenery of the surrounding world.

The question still remains unanswered, "Will a man only consider his own ways as evil when he see's himself as though to be in the presence of God? Does his present life get lived as though God is NOT present in some way?

Who has taken the spirit of God with them on a journey through the land of the prostitute? The hills of the Liar? The den of fornicators? The plains of the unfaithful or the desert of those thought forgotten?

To then have come out from such places while finding refreshing in knowing full well the wake they've left behind has done no harm and diminished in now way the things of God?

How great is our Savior and deliverance when a man dwells only upon what we have been saved from? Who will inform the man that He is the prodigal son while in the way?

As well who will inform the brother of the prodigal that today he too enjoys the benefit of what does belong to the Father and those found by Father to be living as though IN His household?

Such a place where the "Living" sacrifice(s) of God He considers acceptable enough to hear well done my good and faithful servant?

Many are stumbling over the promise of Grace and some rightfully so, yet the Lord would have no need to use the words "Well DONE" if nothing need be "Done" by those that DO because they belong to Him.

One can NOT do in order to receive His grace, yet one can DO because of Gods grace and as the evidence of His mercy shown.

1 Peter 4:1-3

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. NIV

Consider this encouragement for those who have believed in the redemptive demonstration of love for us our Lord and our Christ Jesus has put on display.

Also for those who choose to believe in Christ, it is our reality as it pertains to life and death as such that has since been found only in Jesus the Christ and Son of the living God.

Stop living and putting on display such a presence as though God is dead and be filled with His Holy Spirit. Show forth the goodness of God because He is alive in you and directs you in each moment in your walk of faith.

Much like when on fast do not put on the face of one as though somehow suffering, yet be encouraged in the refreshing of The Holy spirit we're also told to fan into flame and feed on the spiritual manna come down from heaven (words of God).

When God presence has become only a book to a man then surely that man will eventually place it on a shelf among all others he's collected as though Knowledge needed in order to live.

Col 2:17
.....the reality, however, is found in Christ.
NIV

It has been sent and said from the mouth of those God has appointed from the womb to inform those who have chosen to believe, that WE have need of not only a savior but also the need for the "renewal" of our minds.

A glimpse of this need for the renewal of our minds as well part of our hope can be seen when the Apostle Peter spoke from the place of his then present understanding as though to prevent or alter the course of what had already been ordained and set in motion from the mouth of God as such that must come to pass.

Though Peter was in the midst of that prophecy coming to pass, he could NOT also see himself as a participant while standing directly in front of God in the flesh.

Peter as though thoroughly convinced within his personage (heart, mind, soul and strength) was "All in" favor of everything Christ said was held in store for him and others who believed. When Peter did verbally present to Jesus the portion of his mind that still needed to be renewed, he spoke from the place of his then limited understanding.

How much more did Peter discover about himself and others after his person spoke and was then referred to by the Lord as if "Satan" had just spoken?

Do you suppose Peter struggled at any part of the remainder of his life after having heard such words come from the mouth of God in the flesh?

Might there have been subtle reminders along the way exclusively for the spiritual benefit of Peter and ourselves today as Christ continued to speak to his disciples about things to come? About the continuation of this prophecy that is Being fulfilled even today?

I often wonder if Peter came to loath hearing a rooster crow? Maybe sitting straight up from a sound sleep every morning at dawn only then to realize it was yet another day that also came with a reminder while hearing the rooster as he lived out the remainder of his life?

Mark 13:35-37
"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back — whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows , or at dawn. 

If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" 
NIV

Do you think Peter had trouble sleeping OR staying awake after the weight of what he previously could NOT see later came into focus? The same Peter that seemed to have a history of falling asleep in the hour of coming suffering and that of another?

Mark 14:37-38
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
NIV

Acts 12:7
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!
NIV

Rev 3:3
But if you do not wake up , I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
NIV

Peter the same rock upon the likes of whom Christ said he would build His church that was also able to recognize who Jesus in the flesh was when ask, "Who do You say that I am"?

Matt 26:74-75
Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows , you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
NIV

When Peter did later come to terms with what Jesus said to him, did it convert and play a part in his boldness as he knowingly inched forward in his approach to his own death?

Did his renewed mind increasingly speak in boldness after having deeply considered and replayed all that Jesus had spoken to him in times past?

What about you? Whose words revisit when you need to reflect upon what Jesus spoke directly into your life by way of the Holy Spirit?

 Have you found yourself able to discern the voice of your savior while engaged in some of those inner conversations we seemingly love to have within our secret place of reasoning?

Does Christ have his say in those internal debates we try to have when we CAN find a quite moment in this increasingly noisy world OR do we today find ourselves nodding off because we have grown tired?

Does Jesus sit in the highest seat on the panel where debates are held and choices are made? Does the voice of your soul have a tendency to try and talk "Over" the sound of His voice when He does try to speak?

Does silence put you to sleep or does it heighten the awareness of His spirit within you as though a part of Him where it has been trained to discern the value of both silence and the sound of the Lord's voice?

If we believe Christ, He has also informed us that His sheep do "Hear" His voice which to me interprets  that He does speak, yet does that address the full spectrum of a conversation where we learn from Him? How does that reflect within the thought that those that can hear Him also "Have ears that can hear"?

People assume what they think from one moment to the next has no affect on them as long as they don't speak what they think, but does that remove such thoughts from speaking out at the wrong time in the future?

That being in the noisy and crowded room of opinions which inconveniently haunts us all and usually at the most inopportune time(s)?

The word of God advises us to hold captive every thought unto Christ. It also tells to guard every "idle" word we speak unless we too be judged by those words.

What about the next time those thought(s) surface?

Have they been dealt with along the "Way" as though through the process of the renewal of our minds prior to the onset and throws of yet another crisis in your life blind siding you?

Have you made preparations in the anticipation of an attack by our mutual enemy and that as though the need for the renewal of you mind?

Do you lack discernment?

Don't blame God as though He hasn't given you such a gift, look in the mirror, turn off the surrounding noise and listen? Then ask yourself what you hear or do not hear and then judge righteously who speaks to you how they do and possibly why you CAN'T hear the sound of the voice of Christ.

Rom 12:2
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.
NIV

May God bless and keep you stayed in the things which pertain to life eternal. The LIFE that has already began for those who believe they are now found In Christ...