How many of those individual decision(s) made that have been steered primarily by the assumed "Worst case scenario"?
God tells mankind that the kind of Love He intends to be made known is the kind of Love where there is no fear. A Love that has driven out fear once it's been perfected.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear , because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
NIV
The fear of death of course being at the top of the food chain, but what about fear because of failing to "Meet" certain expectations?
I'm of the opinion the further one moves away from not only fear, but the fear of death the more available (free) they've become to now consider more clearly the value of what's truly been made available in terms of the Love of God.
Many see their attempts made to try and fully understand their salvation as though a 'Way" of circumventing and or escaping judgement. Basically, they view their salvation as they would a retirement fund or maybe a golden parachute. A consideration which needs NO further inquiry.
This attitude (state of mind) will fail to comprehend that ALL men will have to "Give" an account of himself before God. Much like the bible has more than one verse in it as well the mention that If every thing Jesus said were written down it would fill an immeasurable amount of space, there's always the "Rest" of the story.
One of the most complex studies is the mind. The next would be relationships. If God left it up to man to decide what "Relationship" looks like how many variations would there be? How long would the check list be which determines whether or not there's true fellowship?
Doubt what I'm suggesting? Go ask any number of said believers what Faith is, but be sure to take a lunch and note pad because it's going to take a while to soak it all in. If you want to do a double study on words ask the simple and general question what is "Love" and see what you get.
If salvation could have been explained as simple as most describe it, why would God not have simply said, "I AM your creator, believe in Me and you'll be saved at the time of My choosing when I come to destroy those who do not believe In Me"?
Sounds simple right?
1 Peter 4:17-19
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved ,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
NIV
Yes, Jesus said, "My Yoke is easy and My burden is light" yet He also said a whole lot about the words "Believe" and "Doubt".
If you don't believe in the power of your prayers, how can you believe in the power of the prayer Jesus offered on our behalf?
John 17:20-21
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
NIV
The Apostle PAUL speaks of the "New Creation" as though a suit worn that's already been created (made). As such where man now finds that his greatest challenge is believing what God has said? As though a suit made, yet one that has been made where "One fits all".
How important then is the thought of being unique which then hopes to fit in this suit?
No? The what do you do with this consideration, "One God, One spirit, One Christ, One baptism"?
What does the image of this said suit being worn look like? When does one know that it fits and who decides?
Where's the image where we look (alike) to Him now that we are in Christ as if a reflection of who God intended to come forth as the result of His mercy shown? How CAN this be possible? By the power of God's grace which comes by way of faith in Him?
What many are failing to believe while refusing to realize it, is the ALL that came with the great salvation Christ purchased with His life.
The majority are acting in disobedience NOT having embraced the Truth which testifies to the ALL that was not only given to Christ as ALL power and ALL authority, but as such that Christ also GAVE to those who are IN (Him) Christ as the result of believing In Him as His goodness.
How true in all instances are the words heard in your heart which declare of Jesus, "He is willing"?
We were intended to be partakers of His person.
Quite simply put, we're living below the means Christ died and paid for in order to give BACK to man what He lost in the "Fall of Man".
Jesus didn't only preach life eternal. Jesus first preached of His Kingdom. Because He is God surely He also painted a clear picture of what He intended to manifest. If not can we blame our creator if we fail to "SEE" it the way He painted the image?
Salvation is not like looking at some art piece and trying to interpret what was rendered in the painting. God did NOT intend what He painted (message) to be interpreted in just any fashion "Anyone" chooses.
The word says no man has seen God, yet the Day we do see HIM we will be made like Him and those who have believed will marvel over this revealing. What do you suppose we will Look like?
The bible also says in heaven there is neither difference's as we now see such things. No male and female. No ethnic differences (Jew Nor Greek). No servitude between us as if slave or freedman. We will all be the same in His eyes. So ask yourself, what hinders such a thought where we are now?
If everything that has to do with Faith in God were to include our resurrection unto a salvation made COMPLETE, "How do YOU interpret God's painted Picture"? Is your opinion going to support your claim made?
Jesus and the first apostle's preached repentance from acts that lead to death because of our acceptance of His message, baptism in His person (spirit), baptism by His spirit, having been informed (conceived) and as the result transformed (Born again).
Then being washed in His word.as the on going process of reaching spiritual maturity (through the renewal of our minds).
Even more He demonstrated a healthy operating and fully functional kingdom along with it's governing principles.
Principles (Truth + belief = Faith) which perform much like a gate keeper or flaming sword which prevent unbelievers from entering in to what's otherwise invisible to those who do not believe His message (Gospel).
The author does not say those who sin will be punished. Instead what does he say? Those who do NOT know God and obey the gospel will be punished. Their punishment is being "Put Out" of His presence.
Presence of what though? The majesty of His power.
When will they be put out though presently enjoying the overflow (as if crumbs from His table) of His goodness to the saints that have accepted His Mercy?
The day He (Christ) comes to be glorified.
2 Thess 1:8-10
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.
This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
NIV
If the church of today suffers from anything it's the loss of power that Christ died in order to give to the Church so that we can overcome. What bride having been temporarily left behind would NOT require the authority of her husband in His absence?
What orphan would not consider themselves abandoned if not for the token (symbol) of their identity in hand to constantly remind them?
The same Husband who said before His departure, "It is better that I should GO"! Yet why would He suggest it's better? Without the presence of the Holy Spirit what does the said "Church" look like?
Wouldn't those in Church look much like the world if NOT for the effectual working of the Holy Spirit? Would the church appear as the world instead of being observed as though the combined presence of Christ (Body) here in the earth?
Does this presence calling itself the "Church" look like and display the entirety of the whole and undivided Christ we only read about?
Who cut off the legs as though a lame man? Who has chopped off the arms and hands that are willing to pass the potatoes? Who has told the feet we no longer need your service so keep on walking?
Who has severed the tongue from the head which speaks of God's goodness? Whose denied the power of the head and everything that informs it?
Where is the presence of Christ as though only a mere roof separates the needy and desperate person in pursuit of healing?
Take away any attribute from Christ which God gave Him in order to prove His message worthy of hearing and who do we have? Did not God make Him complete and whole?
Those that refuse to believe with their mind (soul) don't simply dissolve and cease to exist, No they are cast OUT of God's presence.
Eph 4:22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God ---> in true righteousness and holiness. NIV
We're living in a season where God is not "counting" men sins against him.
That to mean they (sins) are not accumulating in terms of man somehow being able to keep a total of the offense(s) in order to then turn and repay or somehow reimburse God (as if His loss) for the offense(s) committed.
That does not mean God is not aware of sinful behavior. That is a man contrived doctrine.
We were saved so that the life we NOW live gets lived through and because of Christ. Many interpret the promise of change (New Creation) as if something that's only going to take place when they get to heaven.
2 Cor 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. NIV
As if God is going to wave a wand and only then over power the same propensity we've maintained all along with regard towards living in Sin that's yet to be "Humbly" placed in His sight.
When we do, do we then like a dog returning to his vomit go right back into the same thing while claiming Christ is harmoniously along for the ride while dwelling within us?
Rom 6:1-4
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
NIV
I trust that if a man does not die to sin while here, He will die an eternal death because He ignored the mercy and Grace of God. What is a mind without a body? Is it safe to say "Nothing"? And if your body has decayed and is buried as it then blends back in with the soil from which it came, what then?
If a mind is NOT aware of sin, that would be the mind of a lawless man (Self governed-law unto himself). The mind that is aware of his sin unto condemnation, He's not been taught the ways of righteousness and has been trapped by the ways of a religious spirit
Those that are NOT sensitive to the governance of the Holy spirit will also find themselves judged according to the Law because they refused to respond to Gods mercy and be healed by the working power of His Grace.
Gods performing and successful Grace which comes because He is a merciful God when we have humbled ourselves (soul) and we do repent calling upon his trustworthy promises to then save us.
Repenting and forgiveness are not the same. We only able to receive the reward when we find forgiveness yet only when we've truly repented.
That is why the "Law" was given in order to cause "Man" to "SEE" God's mercy extended as the needed cure.
The "Need" of all mankind who was also given the cure as "The Savior" of man Jesus the Christ (Sacrifice).
The Law not only causes man to see his sin nature, it also is the instrument used to cause man to remember the sin nature because of the sin committed.
Who is the accuser of the brethren and why is his evil necessary among those that are being sanctified? because of and only by way of the power of Gods Grace do we have any hope of being sanctified.
We can NOT be cleansed in any other way without the power of God reaching in from the eternal realm having interceded on our behalf.
If the enemies of God are not flesh and blood, who are they? Where are they? What is their physical address at any given moment and how do they influence flesh and blood if not through lies spoken?
Christ is not divided nor was the utilities of His ministry.
Someone has opened the letter love God sent before it was delivered to the intended recipients. Part of its content has somehow been made void.
Someone has cloaked part of the beneficial and necessary content so that those who are willing to believe can then establish its True Context in order that we may observe and then apply the truth in this life.
God would not tell us to do anything if He has NOT also provided the means to then "See" it through.
Which is easier to obey, "Go heal the sick or simply tell him he no longer can unless he first earns the right"?
2 Cor 5:18-19
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed (gave) to us the message of reconciliation.
NIV
If we begin in our relationship with God knowing that He does not simply ask question's as if he's NEEDING the answer that we alone can supply, we will find ourselves in a learning atmosphere sooner than later.
As Lord, He ask questions as if His words are going to search our souls as if dredging the bottom of a river in His attempts to reveal the NOT so obvious issues to come to the surface.
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression , the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
NIV
In terms of God disciplining His sons (children) how many forget the promise when hardship does come?
How many remember as spiritual beings (new creation) our learning is all about our Faith and that IN "Christ/God".
It's not only about getting there, it's about Gods' Glory who are the true saints the One true God also created.
I pray you find this edifying and encouraging. We as believers must spurn each other on. If not what hope do those who reside in the future have if not the maintaining of the truth?
Hopefully to be continued...
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