Panning The River Of Life For Knowledge

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

Finding gold. gold panning or digging. Gold on wash pan.

I thank my GOD for His compassion, in giving us His mercy and truth. Through the sacrifice of the Holy Lamb of GOD, we are being granted the knowledge of Truth unto new life. The process of seeing Truth is like looking through a glass. In order to see through to the other side, the glass has to be clear on both sides. GOD has cleaned the outside of the glass with the blood of the Lamb. It is only through the divine orchestration of life experiences that the inside becomes clear. Only GOD can prepare the soil of the heart for the seed of Truth. Sometimes this is through inspiration, but more often it is through humbling experiences that reveal our character defects and weaknesses. Scripture teaches that there is humiliation before exaltation.

Ignorance and deception are key weapons used by the powers of darkness to destroy us and keep us oppressed. When we understand this, along with how privileged we are to have access to Truth, we should be vigilant in seeking enlightenment. The book of wisdom teaches in Proverbs 16:6, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”

Also in Ecclesiastes 7:12, “For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.”

What I am getting to is this; the knowledge of Truth can be a liberating and transformative force, if we seek it and handle it with care. Holy Scripture teaches us the proper process for handling Truth. Follow this process to gain freedom, to be transformed, to find new life.

Study: Reward your curiosity with research. Seek to understand why. Take counsel with the mature. Read the bible and attend bible studies where there is a dialogue more so than a monologue. Don’t clutter your life to the degree that your mind can’t focus. Pray. Meditate. Listen.

Acknowledge / Confess: When you study, you will find that you are doing some things incorrect and some things that can be done better. Acknowledge the need to change. Share what you learned with someone who can encourage you and hold you accountable to making a change and pray for you.

Repent / Turn: If you find a better path or that you are on the wrong path, stop and prepare to change. Even if you aren’t sure which direction to go in next, don’t continue in the wrong direction. It is better to be still and wait on GOD than to continue in error. If you know the right direction, make the correction immediately.

Plan / Strategize: The bible teaches us to plan out our salvation in fear and trembling. A mature person lives their knowledge. No man lives unto himself and we will all give account to the Creator for what we did with the gift of Life. Proverbs 24:6 says, “For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.” There is no happenstance in our life; everything we experience is the result of some action. Our circumstance is either the result of our own decision or the decision of someone else. When we, with intentionality, base our decisions and actions virtuously on the knowledge of Truth, we maximize the potential for life in us and others as well.

The bible teaches us that GOD is in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. When we seek, embrace, and cherish Truth, the means to live a good and virtuous life avails itself. This is the hope of everyman that has answered the call of reconciliation to GOD.

Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

1 Peter 1:2-8, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

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Revealing Yourself To Promote Intimacy

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

sharing-light

Immediately when you read the title of this post you think “bang-chicka-bang-bang”! Intimacy is not a term reserved for sexual relations. The term gets a sexual connotation because western culture is very sensual and lewd. Admittedly, my title is suggestive. The word intimacy comes from the word, ‘intimate”. When you look at the noun form and the transitive verb form of the word “intimate,” it gives a good understanding of what intimacy is about. The noun form pertains to what is intrinsic to something or what is a part of the deepest nature of something. The transitive verb form refers to making something known or to announce or to hint. When you combine the two forms of the word intimate, you get a processes of revealing what is intrinsic to your being and what is in your deepest nature. Intimacy is when two people reveal their true selves to one another. 

The opposite of being intimate is being secretive or hiding your true self. One of the key signs of sincerity and goodwill is being open versus concealed. Both concealing truth and lying permeates darkness. As children of GOD, we should by nature be children of light. This means we should make things manifest, to bear witness to truth, for the understanding and edification of all. When you hide things about yourself due to fear, shame, or deceit, you create a barrier that blocks intimacy between you and those who would know you. There are many people who have been in relationships for years, including family and friends, where intimacy has hit barriers. These barriers limit the depth of the relationship. Consequently, there are problems with trust and communication and there are certain problems which keep recurring that seem insurmountable. Darkness makes the path to resolution difficult, if not impossible, to find. The scriptures say Our Heavenly Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, this is the only way to true fulfilling intimacy.

You can be physically intimate with someone while knowing little or nothing about them. While this can still provide you physical pleasure, it does nothing to strengthen or build up the persons involved. It’s like sharing a meal with someone and the meal has zero nutritional value. Many people today have diets filled with fast foods. The tendency is to settle for food based on taste instead of nutritional value.  Most fast food will satisfy your hunger but delivers hardly any of the nutrition needed to sustain life. This is a good analogy for understanding how mere physical intimacy is inadequate for fulfillment.  

Spiritual intimacy affirms you as a person with value separate from your physical make up. It affirms your divine roots. Spiritual intimacy bestows a sense of true worth in you that empowers you to become one that affirms true worth in others. Spiritual intimacy breaks downs walls of shame and removes fear. Relationships that are based primarily on physicality aren’t as potent. Even family relationships, like parental or sibling, won’t be as fulfilling as they could be without a spiritual foundation.  

I have been writing quite a bit on the topic of spiritual unity lately. It is because I see a lot disunity in our world. I also see many relationships lacking true intimacy. The key to changing these conditions is first answering the call to intimacy that GOD has to us individually. Our Heavenly Father is revealing His true self to us through the testimony of Yeshua the Savior and through the revelation of His Holy Spirit. His hope is that we will develop intimacy with Him to be strengthened and fulfilled. Through our intimacy with GOD we find the strength and liberty to have truly fulfilling relationships with one another.

There is a fire that comes to test everything we build, and only those things built on spiritual foundation will endure. There is a scripture that says, “unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.” We are spiritual beings and we need that which is spiritual to be fulfilled. It is vain to allow ourselves to be ruled by physicality. Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”  The Word of GOD is spirit and life because it is the knowledge of Him. Begin to fill your self with the knowledge of GOD and you will find intimacy and fulfillment that surpasses all other relations.

Learning the lesson of Jonah

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whale-usa-3d

Yahweh gave Jonah a commission to go Nineveh and call the people to repentance before he punished them. Jonah wasn’t willing to carry the message of reconciliation to Nineveh because he had judged them as being unworthy of mercy and grace. Without delving into the history of the people of Nineveh and all they had done, our merciful GOD Yahweh decided to reach out and offer them a path to reconciliation. Jonah was very reluctant to carry out the commission he had been given. Jonah had no concern for Nineveh and just wanted GOD to destroy them and be done it.

Jonah called himself a prophet of the Most High GOD, and a descendant of GOD’s chosen people. He obviously felt that he and his people were the only ones worthy of the deep riches of GOD’s mercy and grace. I see Christians today with this same disregard for others and mindset of privilege. These Christians want as many chances as it takes to avoid the wrath of GOD, however when it comes to people of other beliefs they want swift judgment. Like Jonah, these Christians have somehow mistaken the grace they have received in this world as something they have earned. When I see the lack of empathy and compassion in many Christians today, I realize they have not learned the lesson of Jonah. Living on the welfare of GOD, some Christians have the nerve to want to hoard the grace of GOD for themselves. They want to create standards and make others earn what they have received freely. “Send in the troops, squash the uprising, unleash the police, they are disturbing my peace,” say these redeemed.

At the conclusion of the book of Jonah, we see our Lord asking Jonah if it right that Jonah wanted Him to come running to his aid when something disrupted his comfort, but when it came to saving the very lives of others who were lost,  Jonah was indifferent. I don’t expect the unbeliever to care about someone other than themselves, but those that confess to have been saved by GOD’s amazing grace, those who have asked for the innocent blood of the Lamb of GOD to cover their transgressions and have been granted redemption, I expect more.

There is a parable Yeshua taught about a servant that had been forgiven a great debt by his King but turned and would not show compassion to a fellow servant that owed him much less. Here is how the parable ended:

“Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.  Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’  And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.” (Matt 18:32-34)

We should not be like the wicked servant in this parable or Jonah, and allow our hearts to become hardened from too much focus on the debts and wrong doings of others. We have to stay sober-minded and remember the debt Christ paid for us.

It is easy to begin harboring ill feelings for a particular religious group or ethnic group if you just believe information circulating in popular media outlets or popular culture. There is a lot of propaganda in mainstream media circulated to form views that serve special interest. News is often reported without disclosing all the facts and it leaves people with misconceptions. We have to care enough to want to know the whole story and be willing to seek out the truth.

Yeshua says if you are not with Him then you are against Him, and if you aren’t gathering with Him then you are scattering abroad. If you proclaim that you are with Him, then let your conversation and witness be seasoned with compassion, understanding, empathy, humility, mercy, grace, and thanksgiving toward drawing people unto Christ. You will not be able to do this if you are feeding on the news more than the Word of GOD. You will not be able to do this if you have chosen, like so many people, to turn a blind eye to the facts of history which reveal that all people have committed wickedness. None of us are better and have greater value than the other. This is a key message in the testimony of Christ since He paid one price as a ransom for ALL people.

Through a grateful heart for the redemption that has been shared with us, we too should be eager to carry the same gospel of reconciliation to the rest of the world.

“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-21)

 

 

Crossing over to Spiritual unity is the only hope

Posted by D.L.Fuller on

cross-to-new-hope-1

The place of spiritual unity is described in Psalms 133 as being like the place where the Lord commands the blessing of life forevermore. The place of spiritual unity is the place where we abide together through obedience to GOD’s word and it is Life. The place of obedience is where we submit to the dominion of GOD, in other words, it is where GOD has dominion as King. Holy scripture teaches us that the Kingdom of GOD is righteousness, peace, and joy.

Spiritual unity is like the sweet communion of corporate worship, when the family of GOD comes together and everyone is focused on the grace, mercy, love, and all the glory of Yeshua. It is a taste of Heaven. Unfortunately, the church struggles with a concentrated focus on Yeshua outside of a worship service environment. There are so many other attractions vying for our attention, our focus, our worship. Think about the parable Yeshua gave about how the cares of physical life and the concerns of this present world can choke the spiritual seed of the Word like weeds to make man unfruitful. When man becomes unfruitful in the fruit of the spirit he lacks the following: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. When you examine those fruit you will find that they are required for people to dwell together in unity. Here are the weeds that grow in place of the fruit of the spirit: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I am copying this right from the bible. Study the book of Galatians. The Apostle Paul says the Galatians are like a people who knew the truth but allowed themselves to become bewitched. I can see some comparisons that can be drawn to the Church of today.

The scripture says from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The scripture also tell us that where a man’s treasure is, there his heart will be also. I can tell from these two truths that there are a lot of Christians that have too much treasure still remaining in this world. It is clear from what they speak or express and with the advent of social media it is even more apparent. Your treasure dictates your values. If your treasure is earthy then your values will be also. This is why Christians in America have historically not shown values inline with divine teaching. Their values have to often been spoiled by a culture of capitalism. When the heart is tainted then vision is impaired. This is also why so many Christians are entangled in skirmishes of political parties (factions) and worldly interest. In the Book of 2 Timothy we are taught that the soldiers of Yeshua shouldn’t be entangled in the affairs of this life that we might please Him. If you are carnally minded due to being caught up in the affairs of this life then you will not be able to please GOD. The scripture says when you are carnally minded, the things of the spirit are foolishness to you. If what you are reading here sounds like foolishness, then you know where you stand.

The political system of this world is not how Christians change things. Our weapons are mighty through GOD to the pulling down of strongholds! I am not saying Christians should neglect their civic responsibilities to make their communities better but we shouldn’t be dismayed or anxiously involved to the degree as unbelievers who have their hopes in men and in the systems of this world. The bible has already told us the systems of this world will implode because they have chosen to exclude the knowledge of GOD. As society around us decays, if we are not spiritually minded, we will result to the same striving, biting and scratching to sustain carnal life as those who have no other hope.

When you study the bible in John 17, Ephesians 4, and Philippians 2, you see how the unity of the church, or the body Christ, or the family of GOD is dependent on life in the Spirit. Life in the spirit is living with a focus on what pleases GOD. What makes this possible is sacrificing an existence based on what pleases self. This means daily taking up the cross as Yeshua did. We see this dedication in Romans chapter 12 were the Apostle Paul says we should give our bodies as living sacrifices to GOD. It is considered our reasonable service to continually offer our carnal lives on the altar of the cross that we might live in the Spirit to please GOD. This should be our daily, hourly, moment to moment focus. I am not saying we should not have carnal pleasures. I am saying carnal life and its pleasures should not rule our lives or dictate our priorities. In Galatians 6, the Apostle Paul says taking up the cross of Christ is the equivalent of being crucified to the world and having the world crucified to you. The level setting of the cross creates clarity of vision that allows us to see and unify around the perspective of the Spirit. Without man the taking up the cross, he can have no spiritual unity or fellowship of the spirit with GOD or with one another. We should always be endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit by seeking to please GOD first and endeavoring to have His perspective on life and things that pertain to mankind. This is the only way the Church will be able to offer an alternative hope to a world in despair.

 

Where Do We Go from Here?

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GOP 2016 Trump

When trying to reach a destination, knowing where you are is just as essential as knowing where you are going. For those who were unsure, as well as for those who were disillusioned, it has become very apparent where we are in America; divided. America is so divided that her history is told differently by her native-born people based on their race, gender, or religion. The different accounts of history do not result from just varied opinions but is rather the result of how the American government has chosen to unequally extend rights and privileges to its diverse population. The disparities created by this inequality have subjected the people of America to distinctly different experiences based on their race, gender, and in some cases their religion. This discrimination also accounts for the different levels of patriotism visible in America today. America’s division is directly due to the inequalities created and sustained by government policies that were never intended to provide equal opportunity to all people in their pursuit of happiness. This is where we are in America and it is where we will remain, until all of its people are ready to accept the liberating truth. I say liberating because we will be stuck in this divided state until we acknowledge that we are here and acknowledge that the founders of this country were racist and sexist, and enacted governing policies reflective of that.

When you study American history, you find that after America won its independence, it took almost a century and a half before the basic freedoms of American citizenship were enjoyed by anyone other than white males. These basic freedoms still had to be fought for and gained by native-born Women, Blacks, and Native Americans. The aforementioned demographics were not included in the vision under the Constitution for liberty and justice for all. As such, they were excluded from the rights and privileges protected under the constitution. This exclusion of rights to some groups wasn’t an oversight; it was intentional. Bearing this in mind, we have to be careful when we say we want the Constitution interpreted in the same mind as the generation that drafted it. It is very clear that the men that drafted the Constitution didn’t consider women or people of other races as equals, hence unworthy of the same rights and privileges. When people refer to a point in history where America was considered to be great, it is false if the wealth and strength was not equally available for all to enjoy. The people of this land make up America, for America to be great ALL of its people must be great. When we look at American history from a perspective that takes into account the journey of ALL its citizens, we see there is nothing in the past to return to. If Americans continue to dismiss the inequalities permeated from its origins then we will never mend the divide and neither a house nor a nation divided can stand.

One factor that obscures American history from being seen in true light is the deception of America’s heritage as a Christian nation. If you define Christianity in terms of the teachings of Christ, then America’s historical treatment of people is not in line with Christianity. Were followers of Christ around at the founding of this country?…I am certain there were. Did the presence of these Christians have enough influence on American society for it to be called a Christian nation?… Absolutely not! One of the foundational principles of Christianity is that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. I don’t think I have to make an argument for how un-neighborly America has been to Native Americans or to Blacks or to minority immigrants. The other major tenant of Christianity is that Christians are to love GOD with all their heart, mind, and strength. Christ measures love for GOD in relation to obeying of His commandments…does America or has America ever put all her strength toward keeping GOD’s commandments?…Let us not even go there. The standards of a Christian nation should be set by their GOD not by comparison to how other countries treat their people. It’s time to awake!

Christians should be leading the charge in this country towards peace and unity. Based on our intimate knowledge of the love and teachings of Christ, we should be the best equipped for loving our neighbors as ourselves. We should be best equipped with the humility and compassion involved in putting ourselves in the place of others to understand their condition that we might know better how to relate to them, in order to pray for them and to offer them what they are missing of the life that Christ sacrificed for them to enjoy. Instead, I am seeing so-called soldiers of Christ immersed in secular skirmishes, slinging mud with the republican and democratic parties. Instead of aligning themselves with the Kingdom of GOD, I see Christians aligning themselves with political parties through promoting particular party viewpoints and echoing news articles reporting on all the political rubbish that is common place during election years. Regardless of who gets into the office of President, our foe remains the same. Our battle is against spiritual wickedness working to divide and conquer. Our enemies are not white people or black people or Democrats or Republicans or Muslims or Police. None of those groups are responsible for keeping us divided. The real enemies that keep us divided are the enemies of Love: they are hate, fear, greed, selfishness, lies, deception, despair, envy, unfaithfulness, and idolatry just to name a few. These are issues of the heart that can be present in any man regardless of race, gender, financial status, or party affiliation.

As Christians, we have to be in the battle to free hearts for the Kingdom of GOD. Christ taught,

“What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

These are the things that corrupt men and corrupt men spread corruption throughout countries.

The only way America will be great is by repenting of its evils. 2 Chronicles 7:14,

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

 

Scale Social Walls for a Better View

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the wall

If you believe that all men are created equal, then you have to take a look at the outside influences that have shaped the differences we see between people in our society. It’s easy to just label people based on what you see today, however the current view of a person has to come from a perspective that takes their history into consideration. Once you begin to understand the historical socio-economic factors surrounding the different groups in our society, you get a better understanding of the disparities that exist today. You also get a better picture of who the people are. You may find that some of the people you thought were inferior are actually pretty tenacious and some of the people you thought were exceptional had unfair advantages.

Consider the fact that the police force in this country, from its inception, was established to sustain the viability of commerce. The interest of our law enforcement agencies has always been mercantile first. Once you understand this it becomes clear who the officers are on patrol to protect and serve. This also shines light on the police profiling that has taken place in our society since the formation of law enforcement agencies. Commerce has and still holds low-cost labor as the key to maximum profitability. The ability of businesses to control the workforce ensures a level of control over profitability. The demand for a low cost workforce in this country has always been filled systematically by Blacks and immigrants. As such, controls on this targeted population have always been the focal point of the police force. Any attempts by Blacks and immigrants to organize, protest, or riot as a result of unfair or unsafe work conditions have always been deterred forcibly by the police force. This relationship between the police departments and those that fit the profile of low-income earners has eroded to what we see today and it is all still backed by commerce with its great influence in our government and court systems.

Civility in a society is determined by the law that governs. When you live in a country that has a history of laws rooted in inequality for its people, then the civil treatment of people becomes relative to the subject. This explains why the court system in our country has scales that aren’t balanced in determining justice for all. Murder is defined as the deliberate killing of another person. When a country has historically dehumanized a particular ethnic group by racism, it follows that this country may not rule it murder when this dehumanized ethnic group is killed deliberately; especially when killed by government employees. This is what I believe Dr. King was referring to when he said, “The ultimate logic of racism is genocide”. He used Nazi Germany as the case study.

What we are witnessing in this country is a continuation of what has been practiced from its founding. The insinuation that the US was once great and that this country has strayed from the virtue that was present at its founding is a sentiment lodged in the heart of the privileged and reflects the intrinsic inequality in our society that divides the “US” from them. The solution is a government with a true intent to establish equality for all and federal enforcement of the laws and policies to make it real for all people.

Fire is difficult to produce where there is no friction. The social practices that spark rioting in our society must be condemned in the same fervor at which rioting itself is condemned. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” I don’t condone rioting any more than I condone the marginalizing of the lives of one group to promote the wellbeing of another. Until all the people of this world come to the understanding that we all collectively make up one body, we will remain divided to the endangerment of human life as a whole.

Let No Man Take Your Crown

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Crowns

As a father, my goal is to equip my children to be successful in life and to align them with a future that is fulfilling and sure. It is to make sure that they are in a place to enjoy all the true riches of life that have been freely given by their Heavenly Father. I don’t just desire this for my children but it is my wish for all of GOD’s children. GOD the Father sent us a savior who is Himself the road map, the Light, the Truth, the Word, the Way but we have to follow Him at all cost for success. He chooses us, but we also have to choose Him. The bride has to agree and surrender herself that she may become one with the bridegroom. There are others people and other things vying for our affections but we must stay true to our first Love, Yeshua the Christ.

“I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one may rob you and deprive you of your crown..”   (Revelation 3:11 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

A warning to the children of GOD in regards to guarding their crowns. The crowns represent the spiritual authority they have as a result of being unified with Christ, in having taking up the sufferings of Christ through crucifying their flesh with its carnal affections, in walking in obedience to the spirit as children of GOD, and in putting on the mind of Christ. The crown goes on the head and it reflects the Glory of Christ through all of those who have made Christ their head by putting on the mindset of Christ; the mindset of being obedient, even unto to death.

 

We have an adversary trying to trick us out of our inheritance and rob us of our very life. The alarm system that alerts us when evil is present is judgment. Darkness pervades where there is no judgment, which is why the enemy promotes tolerance without judgment. Judgment with tolerance can save lives but tolerance without judgment is the real condemnation to death. Judgment will save all of those seeking the light but those that love darkness will detest the light that judgment brings. Tolerance without judgment is subtle and tricky, and comes as counterfeit love, but it proliferates evil and causes the destruction of life. We all have the same chance to make it in, but only the ones that lose their life will find it. Go through the pain of releasing that thing that the Word of GOD has judged as cursed and you will find life.

 

“So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God],  So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.” (1 Peter 4:1-3 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

 

I have throughout my life encountered people who would discourage me from harshly regulating my carnal appetites, but I have ignored their carnal counsel understanding that some things look like liberty but the end is bondage. There are spiritual things that look very restricting to carnal people, but they bring great freedom. Don’t let the carnal counsel of the world cause you to lose your crown waiting in heaven.

 

Yeshua the Savior has always told us the truth. He is love and He is what love looks like. We don’t have to wonder what it means to love; we can just look at the testimony of Christ and His teachings and be in the know. Our heart may utter things just as the disciples did, “Yeshua, that is too harsh,” “Yeshua, that is offensive,” “Yeshua, who then can be saved.” We just have to humble ourselves for the rebuke that comes when we are out of line with the spirit. When Yeshua informed the disciples that he had to suffer great things and be put to death, Peter told Him that He was speaking non-sense. Yeshua rebuked the spirit speaking through Peter saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Yeshua went on to tell the disciples that if they were going to be in unity with Him, then they would have to take up there cross as well, and so it is with us. People will try and talk you out of it, you will try and talk yourself out of it, but there is no way around it if you want to keep your crown.

 

This is a long post but it is important. I have one more scripture I wanted to share.

Ephesians 5:1-7 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

“Therefore be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].  And walk in love, [esteeming and delighting in one another] as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a [slain offering and sacrifice to God [for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.  But immorality (sexual vice) and all impurity [[of lustful, rich, wasteful living] or greediness must not even be named among you, as is fitting and proper among saints (God’s consecrated people).  Let there be no filthiness (obscenity, indecency) nor foolish and sinful (silly and corrupt) talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting or becoming; but instead voice your thankfulness [to God].  For be sure of this: that no person practicing sexual vice or impurity in thought or in life, or one who is covetous [who has lustful desire for the property of others and is greedy for gain]—for he [in effect] is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments [for these sins], for through these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience.  So do not associate or be sharers with them.”

Love is about what you need and what is best for you, not what pacifies you. Speaking the truth will bring conflict because there is so much falsehood in the world, but it is the way of salvation. It is better to walk in truth and be alienated from the world, than to compromise for carnal affection and be alienated from the true love and liberty in Christ and lose your crown. Don’t be lukewarm, be on fire for GOD and plan out your salvation in fear and trembling. The one with whom we have to do is very tolerant but with judgment. Read revelations chapter 2 and 3 for a sobering perspective of Love.