Faith or Fear!

 "And since we have the same spirit of faith, according



to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also


believe and therefore speak," (2 Corinthians 4:13)

Now this verse mentions that there is a "spirit of faith" that indwells in us, the


fact that we believe that, is the source of where our actions will


come from. Then in 2 Timothy 1:7 scripture says "For God has not given


us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."


Now here the Bible mention "God has not given us a spirit of fear"


that implies that there is a spirit of fear out in our world today,


but we as believers are empowered by the Holy Spirit to show God's


love with a sound mind or in other words "self-control" what that


means is that our spiritual gifts should only be exercised at the


appropriate time. Now what I want to point out between these two


verses is "spirit of faith" and "spirit of fear" we know that to get


to a persons heart we got to go through their mind. With that being


said that's exactly what the "spirit of fear" tries to do, but the


"spirit of faith" is not fighting for your mind He has already won


your mind over when you gave your life to God, instead He is fighting


to keep you with a sound mind, to have self-control and fend off


temptation. That's why in Ephesians 4:30 scripture declares "do not


grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of


redemption." that verse shows that our hearts and minds are already


"sealed" with Christ, but when we allow fear to enter our minds, we


grieve and sometimes vex the Holy Spirit. Now there are three


gradations that the spirit of fear tries to attempt upon a believer:


(1)he tries to make a believer lose sight of the power of God, (2)then


if he completes that he then tries to make the believer wonder if God


is even listening to him, (3)then if he's able to get that far he


brings the person to a state were they don't even acknowledge God


anymore. All three of those are dangerous, that is why the Lords


Spirit is so adamant about keep His believers with a sound mind. You


see the first one was that we allow the pressures of this world to get


to us, then we lose sight on the Holy power that is working in us.


Just like the disciples did in Mark 9:14-29 they lost sight of the


Lords power and were not able to cast out a demon, we understand in


that passage that they lost sight by the Lords response in Mark 9:19


"O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?" Then if we


continue to feed that spirit of fear he tries to make us think, if God


is even listening to us, now that shows that fear is starting to


overcome a persons body for the Bible professes in Isaiah 59:1


"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor

His ear heavy, That it cannot hear." But unfortunately people continue

to feed that fear and they get to where Satan wants them. They get to

a station in life were they don't even acknowledge God anymore, now

I've never quite understood what the Bible ment in Proverbs 3:6 until

I understood the affects of fear, Proverbs 3:6 says "In all your ways

acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." that verse implies

that sometimes we won't feel the presence of God, but if we always

hold in our heart and mind and confess with are mouth the existence of

the truth, we'll find that time and time again God will calm all our

troubles. The biggest problem with us believers is when we sin we

think that God is disappointed with us, and we start to judge

ourselves, and forget that our Judge is gracious and mericful. We

start to come down on ourselves and make ourselves almost depressed,

but that's not what our eternal King wants, Yes, He wants you to

understand what you did was wrong but through His mercy, grace, and

forgiveness He wants you to bounce back on track with Him. But when we

do get down on ourselves we stop reading the Bible, because the bible

is only for the righteous and only certain gifted people can

comprehend it. I don't know where people get this idea from, the bible

itself states in 1 Timothy 1:9-10 "that the law is not made for a

righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the

ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of


fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for


sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is

any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." So if it's for

all those people, how much more does God want to use it to encourage

His people. So when faced with fear in your mind don't stop reading

your bible, start reading it even more than you did before.

The Second Coming!

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first" (1Thessalonians 4:16)

 Now I'm about to touch a subject that is extremely terrifying to some and others it's simply joyful anticipation, the day of judgement.

Now in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 tells us there are three things that will happen before Christ's children ascend to the clouds, with the Father. There will be a "shout", "the voice of an archangel", and "the trumpet of God", it's interesting that He's coming to call His people and He uses three ways of calling them. So once you hear His shout you should drop to your knee and repent. I'm just kidding, that won't work because those three events will occur in rapid succession. The reason that won't work is because it will all happen in the "twinkling on an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52) Try this, wink your eye and say "Lord, I'm sorry, I repent of my sins, I want you in my life." Which ones faster? You see I know some of you are sitting their reading this and either saying "that's funny" or "this is not funny, it's scary" and that's because you know that you haven't made your peace with God, but you say "I'm not a bad person, I obey God's commandments" Do you obey them because that's what your religion tells you to do or do you obey them because you don't want to displease God? "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit." (Proverb 16:2) That means that if you live a life were you want to be called God's child but you still want to party on the weekends, that's cool but know that one glorious day all the injustice of the world will be corrected. You see Christ Himself said "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24) that scripture is why you see so many crazy Christians filled with so much hope and joy, because their "waiting for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13) You know you don't have to live in fear of judgement, God can fill you with so much peace that you can't wait for judgement. Now how does this peace work? I'll be straight forward with you, I don't know! I'm not going to try and fool you I don't know how it works, I just know it works. "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7) But all those Christians that you think are weird because their losing their houses, cars, jobs, whatever, yet their still happy it's that peace which surpasses all understanding. Now don't take this all in the wrong way I'm not saying Christians are any better then anyone else, and if you've ever heard a Christian say that well then they don't even know this peace I'm talking about. What I'm trying to say is God cares for you and loves you. He wants you to say "O Death, Where is your sting? O Hades, Where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55) So I have written this for preparation, so that you may prepare your heart before He comes, "For no one knows the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." (Acts 1:7) But know this, that no other book would dare to proclaim the future beside the God-breathed words of the Bible, and all of it's prediction are all correct. There is only one more prediction to be fulfilled and it shall come to pass, real soon, that's the Second Coming! So I hope to see you in the clouds!

Mind: Friend or Foe?

"The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant." (Proverbs 15:26)

 "Of the wicked" and "of the pure" means that this verse speaks of two different agents. By wicked it means the ungodly and by pure it means Gods children, now notice how the verse does not say "the thoughts of the the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasant." Instead it says "the words of the pure are pleasant" now I wonder why it says that? Since we have accepted Christ into our lives aren't our thoughts always good? No! We still have bad thoughts, let me rephrase that, we still have wicked thoughts, but now that we have been transformed by the renewing our minds (Romans 12:2) we have been blessed with a clean and good conscience. Now the reason our thoughts aren't an abomination, is because the wicked act upon those thoughts, while we test those thoughts. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:19 "having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck." when we don't look and determine our thoughts according to a heavenly standpoint and ask of the Holy Spirits assistance, we reject that good conscience God has so graciously blessed us with and we suffer a shipwreck in our faith. For Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-37;

"For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

 Now if we could just remember those words everytime were about to open our big mouths we would be prefectly fine. But we don't were human were prone to error, so how do we keep our mouth to speak of justice? Were going to always have to be consistently guarding our thoughts. Ya we could do that or we could be as the wise psalmist David, who was two steps ahead of his foolish talk and bad thoughts, he said;

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

A.D.-Anno Domini!

 "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." (2 Timothy 1:9)

In this verse we pick up two major words; justification and sanctification.

"Who has saved us" meaning justification, which literally means declared innocent or blameless.

Then "called us with a holy calling" meaning sanctification, which literally means to make holy or consecrate.

We can understand that those phrases are refering to those words by reading the rest of the verse, it goes on to say "not according to our works" it is impossible for us to try and earn our way into heaven, it is only by God's grace, forgiveness, and purpose that we may recieve everlasting life.
Now the way we see the words justification and sanctification being used in this verse is by the next phrase Paul says "but according to His purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" by His grace we are justified and continue to be sanctified and also by His purpose we are sanctified, but first by God's purpose we are justified for Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:25 "if God perhaps will grant them repentance" So we see that to be justified and sanctified it comes from God's grace and purpose. Now when we accept Christ into our life we recieve everlasting life and we are justified and there is no condemnation toward us, (Romans 8:1) but God's plan doesn't just stop there He wants sanctification, He loves us so much that He literally wants us to be just like Him, "but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:15-16) So by the power of God's Spirit He allows us to have His character qualities, the fruit of Spirit, (Galatians 5:22-23) that we may imitate God, just as a young boy will imitate his father. (Ephesians 5:1) You see when we imitate someone it is very easy to match up our actions, but when we imitate someone because we admire their objective our actions almost become transparent. With that being said to intimately imitate Christ we must gaze upon His heart and just as the psalmist David was, we must be after God's own heart.

Now scripture declares God's heart a countless amount of times, but the verse I'm going to bring up is, 1 Timothy 2:4 "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." That is the very desire of God, now I bring this verse up because what do we see in this verse, we see once again justification and sanctification, "all men to be saved" refering to salvation which is justification then "to come to the knowledge of the truth" refering to a growth in a believers life which is sanctification.
You see when we literally understand the Christian salvation and consecration; we recognize that our privilege of the fulfilling The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and The Great Commandment (John 15:12-17) is energized, motivated, and put to action by God Himself, for without Him we are capable to do, nothing! (John 15:5) "Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

God is amazing!

This is incredible...The genealogy of Jesus, from Adam to Noah their names and meanings. God has a plan for every person, He is so detailed in His plan for you that even your name He has given you for a purpose and a plan to glorify Him. (Ephesians 3:20) It was comforting to me I hope the same for you.


Adam means "Man"

Seth means "appointed"

Enosh means "mortal"

Cainan means "sorrow"

Mahalalel means "the blessed God"

Jared means " shall come down"

Enoch means "teaching"

Methuselah means "his death shall bring"

Lamech means " to the poor and lonely"

Noah means "comfort and rest"

If you put those names in one big sentence we see that Christ's redemption was going to take place even before the foundation of the earth. The sentence is "Man appointed mortal sorrow. The blessed God shall come down teaching that His death shall bring the poor and lonely, comfort and rest!" What a big God we worship! Love you!

Repentance!

I search for more when I've hit the core, I wonder to myself if I'm even pure. To heaven I search, but hell's behind trying to trip me up in it's evil bind. For how do I walk? What shall I show? Lord.....I know, You know! Teach me how, even how to bow, put my hands to the plow. Leave me not hunger in soul, lest I be, a wicked fool. For You are my strength and my shield, ready my heart for the battlefield. Revive me, oh LORD according to Thy will, return to my heart the sense to feel. Bestow me love that's all for You, that in my life I know what to do. For how do I walk? What shall I show? Oh Lord..... I know, You know! Take me, my Lord away from here, "My son, do not fear!" oh how I can hear, You whispering in my ear. Restore my love, steadfast my passion, oh Jesus give words of intercession. For You are my God and exceeding reward, I count it as a privilege to call You my Lord. But Lord, Lord will I not do, what it is You said to. For how do I walk? What shall I show? Oh Lord...... I know, You know. Spread forth Your joy and renew my strength, that I may go to Your desired length. For Your ear is not heavy, nor Your arm to short, preserve me my God for Thy heavenly court!

Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength!

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings." Jeremiah 17:9-10

 The word heart in this verse refers to the mind, alot of times in scripture the heart is the word in place for the word mind.

For instance, Matthew 5:28 "But I say to you that whoever looks at a women to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Jesus here uses the word heart but is refering to the mind, that when a person gazes at the opposite sex wanting that person sexually they have mentally committed adultery.

Now back to Jeremiah the Lord says that the heart, the mind, is deceitful above all things and desperatly wicked.

You see the mind is great for thinking of answers, solving puzzles, and understanding certain things better, but the moment we let our mind wonder we set ourselves up for failure.

Imagine yourself in a creek your jumping from rock to rock because you don't want to fall into the water. Then suddenly you come across a rock that is a little distance away from you but in range to jump on. The moment you hesitate to make the jump your mind tells you that you won't make it and you begin to fail before you even try. That is exactly what happens in our own Christian walk, we let our minds decieve us and we forget that our minds are programed to this world and the abilities of this world.

The mind is good with ideas, but should not be in the driver seat of our actions.Our soul and spirit should be the source of our actions.

In Romans 12:2 the bible says "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and prefect will of God" Now notice how Paul says "that you may prove" after talking about a renewed mind. When we accept Christ, He doesn't just erase your mind and give you a new one what He does is gives you a good and clean conscience. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:3 "I thank God, whom I served with a pure conscience" Now your clean conscience is your God given ability to be able to prove what God's will is. You see your spirit tells the heart what it wants and your heart tells your mind what it needs to do. The mind then proves to see if this is acceptable to Christ, if we reject our conscience we then suffer a shipwreck in our faith 1 Timothy 1:19.

Back in Jeremiah the Lord says that He tests the mind, how does He test our mind? In 2 Corinthians 10:5 the bible says "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." So every perception and intention that is against God we need to take captive to the obedience of Christ. We should not cling to the thoughts that do not conform to scripture and the life of Christ. Now I'm not saying Jesus brings bad thoughts in our head to see what we do with them, No! We do that for ourselves, but seeing as everything is naked and open to His eye that includes our thoughts Hebrews 4:13.

Christ then sees what we do with those thoughts and gives each man according to his own ways. So instead of being caught up in religion and fake obedience which is your mind telling your heart what to do, give God the glory by being His true follower and have genuine obedience which is your heart telling your mind what to do.

Let the love of Christ shine on you and through you, for "above all things put on love, which is the bond of perfection-Colossians 3:14." And let all that you do be done with love, God's love! 1 Corinthians 16:14

-Soli Deo Gloria: For God's glory alone-