Revelation 19:7
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
For those who trust in Jesus for their eternal and temporary lives; dying not only is not to be feared but actually looked forward to. No one looks forward to the getting dead part, the physical pain and the pain of others that are left. There is, however, the anticipation of freedom from the weight of the flesh that we do not yet have here and most of all we will be home with Jesus. We wait here on earth to either die or for Jesus to come again. If we die before He comes we will still be waiting. It will be a much better waiting but we will still be waiting.
All heaven waits for the day of the Lord. They wait for the day when Jesus will return for His bride and judge the earth. All of heaven waits for the fullness of God’s purpose to be completed. We all wait for the full number of those who belong to Jesus to come in. Romans 11:25 tells us that there is a fullness of the gentiles to come in to God’s kingdom. In Revelation chapter 6 we are told of a vision of those who had been killed for the word of God and for their witness crying out and asking “how long?’ They were waiting for God to judge the earth and were told to wait a little longer until the number of their fellow servant and brothers should be complete. There is a waiting for Jesus even in heaven.
Entering heaven is not the same as receiving the full inheritance of Jesus Christ. Entering heaven upon death will no doubt be awesome but we wait for all to be completed before we come into our true reward. We wait for the full number to come in. Shouldn’t this truth just take the wind out of our selfish, competitive, individualistic ways?! We will receive our reward when we are one; in number of fullness, not before. God will not leave a single one out and none will inherit without the other. God’s word does speak of each being judged according to his own labor, but judgment, whether good or bad, will not occur until all have been brought into the kingdom.
Jesus prays for all believers in John 17. He desires that those who believe in Him would be with Him. All the citizens of heaven will be recalled from earthly duty to be with Jesus. He wants us ALL. He is quite adamant that we be one. He prays that we be one with each other, with Him and with the Father. There is a completeness that must take place before we can truly know this perfect oneness. Certainly, we have the wonderful privilege of fellowship with Jesus now; which we tend to enjoy too little and take too lightly. That is only a beginning portion of what will be received at the end. Not our personal end of life here but the end of it all.
So if you can imagine being in heaven waiting for the fullness of God’s people to come in; can you imagine the celebration of the angels when the last believer is saved? Can you imagine how all of heaven will be silent and listen to his or her profession of Jesus and then – the beginning of the real end? Can you imagine sitting in heaven and wishing you had brought a few spiritual children with you? Can you imagine waiting and wondering if anyone was doing their duty or if they were still just tinkering with their toys? Can you imagine wondering if anyone was loving your remaining family members as Christ loved you on earth? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to spend your time waiting with the restful knowledge that you had been faithful to live entirely for the purpose of God to bring about this blessed end. Wouldn’t it be great to know you had been a part of the REAL plan; not just a life plan, a financial plan or a retirement plan? I’m pretty sure heaven is not a a fretful place but we are warned many times in scripture that if we are not about the loving work of God, we will be ashamed at Jesus’ coming.
We cannot go home for eternity without each other. We may be in the waiting room, but the complete and glorious prize is only given out when the last of us is received into our Lord. Pray that God will open our eyes to each other and our real needs; our spiritual battles and victories and blindness. Pray that God will open our hearts and hands to those who are at this moment captives, waiting to be set free. Pray to God that He will send forth laborers and that you might be one. Pray these things for the sake of Jesus’ glorious name and for the sake of us all and for the sake of yourself.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Footsteps of a Traitor
Isaiah 40:11
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Lambs do not have to be gathered in the arms of the shepherd and carried in his bosom because they can’t walk. They have to be carried because they can walk. A person might carry a lamb for the same reason a person might carry an eighteen month old. You spend a lot less time and energy chasing them around if you carry them; not to mention, it is usually safer for them.
I have a bookmark that has the little “Footprints” poem on it. You know, the one where the person looks back on their life and they see two sets of footprints and where they saw one set it was where the Lord carried them. It is a comforting thought that at the hard times in life, Jesus will carry us. The other day I looked at that bookmark and realized that if I had a chance to look back on my life in that way, to see the footprints - it would go more like this: I would see one set most of the time and at the places I saw two sets, one would be going the opposite direction. At any time Jesus isn’t carrying me, I run off after something “interesting” or so I think. Like the eighteen month old, I don’t have a lot of thought about it, I just find myself wandering off.
It’s a little cute in the context of a lamb or an eighteen month old but I know it is absolute treason. I am glad to know I have a traitor’s heart. If it were not for God’s sustaining grace and loving care and patience and incredible mercy; I would betray Him in less than a minute. Now that might not sound like a good thing to know but every time I am truly able to see it I weep tears of joy. It makes me hold onto Jesus and be happy He is carrying me in His bosom. I want to get home and it will go far better if Jesus carries me. I won’t have to spend wasted time bumping into things, falling down and being retrieved again and again.
Lambs grow up to be sheep and eighteen months old grow to be adults; both whom are perfectly capable of walking on their own without wandering off. One would think that when we mature in Christ we could be taught to walk beside Him to work with Him. One might think that straying away is only a temporary problem that is cured with spiritual age. Sure, that must be why we have so much unity and love and effective working in the church. Yes, that is a sarcastic remark. Growing up in the Lord is not as it is to grow up in the world. As with all things heavenly and worldly; they are opposites. Growing up in the Lord has to do with resting more happily and knowing more surely that we cannot walk on our own but must be carried. The cooperation we give God is our understanding and submission to this truth: without Jesus we can do nothing. Worse than that – we can do everything evil; nothing good. I hope when I am a hundred years old in the Lord I will understand that my old nature has not grown a bit and that if ever I look back on my footprints I will see only one set. Carry me Jesus, all the way home.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Lambs do not have to be gathered in the arms of the shepherd and carried in his bosom because they can’t walk. They have to be carried because they can walk. A person might carry a lamb for the same reason a person might carry an eighteen month old. You spend a lot less time and energy chasing them around if you carry them; not to mention, it is usually safer for them.
I have a bookmark that has the little “Footprints” poem on it. You know, the one where the person looks back on their life and they see two sets of footprints and where they saw one set it was where the Lord carried them. It is a comforting thought that at the hard times in life, Jesus will carry us. The other day I looked at that bookmark and realized that if I had a chance to look back on my life in that way, to see the footprints - it would go more like this: I would see one set most of the time and at the places I saw two sets, one would be going the opposite direction. At any time Jesus isn’t carrying me, I run off after something “interesting” or so I think. Like the eighteen month old, I don’t have a lot of thought about it, I just find myself wandering off.
It’s a little cute in the context of a lamb or an eighteen month old but I know it is absolute treason. I am glad to know I have a traitor’s heart. If it were not for God’s sustaining grace and loving care and patience and incredible mercy; I would betray Him in less than a minute. Now that might not sound like a good thing to know but every time I am truly able to see it I weep tears of joy. It makes me hold onto Jesus and be happy He is carrying me in His bosom. I want to get home and it will go far better if Jesus carries me. I won’t have to spend wasted time bumping into things, falling down and being retrieved again and again.
Lambs grow up to be sheep and eighteen months old grow to be adults; both whom are perfectly capable of walking on their own without wandering off. One would think that when we mature in Christ we could be taught to walk beside Him to work with Him. One might think that straying away is only a temporary problem that is cured with spiritual age. Sure, that must be why we have so much unity and love and effective working in the church. Yes, that is a sarcastic remark. Growing up in the Lord is not as it is to grow up in the world. As with all things heavenly and worldly; they are opposites. Growing up in the Lord has to do with resting more happily and knowing more surely that we cannot walk on our own but must be carried. The cooperation we give God is our understanding and submission to this truth: without Jesus we can do nothing. Worse than that – we can do everything evil; nothing good. I hope when I am a hundred years old in the Lord I will understand that my old nature has not grown a bit and that if ever I look back on my footprints I will see only one set. Carry me Jesus, all the way home.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Spirit of One
Mark 12:29-30
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 in answer to the question of what is the greatest commandment? One might have expected Him to say it was most important to have no other gods before the one true God. But He did not cite one of the ten commandments and the first part of the commandment He does cite is not a commandment but a statement. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. He is not saying the Lord our God is the only one, the only God; although He is the only God. Jesus is making the statement from Deuteronomy that the Lord is ONE.
The spirit that divides is the spirit of the antichrist. This is the same spirit that blinds the eyes of unbelievers to keep them from believing that Jesus is sent from the Father; that He is one with the Father. God is one. That is the issue of unbelief now as it was in the day when Jesus spoke this commandment as a man. Jesus is very serious about this oneness of God. Those who do not believe that Jesus is God and is one with the Father will not be saved. Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. What do they accuse the Holy Spirit of? They blaspheme the Holy Spirit in separating Him from the Father and the Son. They attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to be that of the spirit of man or of Satan; as they did the Son.
In John chapter 17 Jesus makes a great prayer for all believers. He is very emphatic in His prayer that those who believe in Him be one with each other as He and the Father are one SO THAT the world will know that the Father sent Him. He does not pray that the world will believe that He died for their sins. First they must believe that Jesus is one with the Father. Otherwise, He is only a martyr. Our oneness is to be a testimony to His oneness with the Father. He prays also that we will be one with Him and the Father. We will be one. God will be one and when He calls all those home who have His Spirit we will enter into the fullness of the oneness of God.
It is no wonder that the enemy is so busy working in us to divide our loyalty to God within our hearts. Marriages and churches and every place there is godly unity is a target for the spirit of division. Mainly Satan aims at the individual heart because he knows that to rule the inner man or to keep him from being entirely ruled by God is to work division in others so that the world will not believe Jesus was sent from the Father and not be able to come to salvation. As with most other things God has declared as right and beautiful, Satan attempts to imitate. We have a great false unity in false religions and in our society of relativism and tolerance.
We must be careful to not seek unity in the way of the world and we also must be cautious about throwing out the true meaning of oneness because we are so sick of hearing about the false “oneness”. The oneness of Spirit of God’s people is crucial to others seeing God as He is and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is beyond simply making a united front and showing others how well we can get along, although that is helpful. It is insisting on the rule of the Holy Spirit ALONE in ourselves and in our churches and families. Oneness is not a tolerance issue. It is quite the opposite. We must guard our own hearts first and then the hearts of others for our sake and for theirs and mostly for the sake of the gospel. God is one and the enemy is very busy trying to disprove that. Who will we work with?
God is one and we are to worship Him as one. We are to worship God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to worship with all that we are; as one. We are to worship God corporately, as one. This cannot happen unless we are worshiping God as one within ourselves. Individually, our hearts must be united to learn from God and to truly worship Him. Ps 86:11 unite my heart to fear your name. If the spirit of division is at work within us it will be working from us to divide God’s people from each other and to encourage divided hearts in others. We must seek Jesus to completely rule every area of us and all that we have. We must give over ALL: money, jobs, children and marriages. ALL. Whatever we hold back from God will serve the spirit of division and Satan is never happy with just a little. Thankfully, neither is the Spirit of God!
Zachariah 14:9
And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 in answer to the question of what is the greatest commandment? One might have expected Him to say it was most important to have no other gods before the one true God. But He did not cite one of the ten commandments and the first part of the commandment He does cite is not a commandment but a statement. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. He is not saying the Lord our God is the only one, the only God; although He is the only God. Jesus is making the statement from Deuteronomy that the Lord is ONE.
The spirit that divides is the spirit of the antichrist. This is the same spirit that blinds the eyes of unbelievers to keep them from believing that Jesus is sent from the Father; that He is one with the Father. God is one. That is the issue of unbelief now as it was in the day when Jesus spoke this commandment as a man. Jesus is very serious about this oneness of God. Those who do not believe that Jesus is God and is one with the Father will not be saved. Those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. What do they accuse the Holy Spirit of? They blaspheme the Holy Spirit in separating Him from the Father and the Son. They attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to be that of the spirit of man or of Satan; as they did the Son.
In John chapter 17 Jesus makes a great prayer for all believers. He is very emphatic in His prayer that those who believe in Him be one with each other as He and the Father are one SO THAT the world will know that the Father sent Him. He does not pray that the world will believe that He died for their sins. First they must believe that Jesus is one with the Father. Otherwise, He is only a martyr. Our oneness is to be a testimony to His oneness with the Father. He prays also that we will be one with Him and the Father. We will be one. God will be one and when He calls all those home who have His Spirit we will enter into the fullness of the oneness of God.
It is no wonder that the enemy is so busy working in us to divide our loyalty to God within our hearts. Marriages and churches and every place there is godly unity is a target for the spirit of division. Mainly Satan aims at the individual heart because he knows that to rule the inner man or to keep him from being entirely ruled by God is to work division in others so that the world will not believe Jesus was sent from the Father and not be able to come to salvation. As with most other things God has declared as right and beautiful, Satan attempts to imitate. We have a great false unity in false religions and in our society of relativism and tolerance.
We must be careful to not seek unity in the way of the world and we also must be cautious about throwing out the true meaning of oneness because we are so sick of hearing about the false “oneness”. The oneness of Spirit of God’s people is crucial to others seeing God as He is and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is beyond simply making a united front and showing others how well we can get along, although that is helpful. It is insisting on the rule of the Holy Spirit ALONE in ourselves and in our churches and families. Oneness is not a tolerance issue. It is quite the opposite. We must guard our own hearts first and then the hearts of others for our sake and for theirs and mostly for the sake of the gospel. God is one and the enemy is very busy trying to disprove that. Who will we work with?
God is one and we are to worship Him as one. We are to worship God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to worship with all that we are; as one. We are to worship God corporately, as one. This cannot happen unless we are worshiping God as one within ourselves. Individually, our hearts must be united to learn from God and to truly worship Him. Ps 86:11 unite my heart to fear your name. If the spirit of division is at work within us it will be working from us to divide God’s people from each other and to encourage divided hearts in others. We must seek Jesus to completely rule every area of us and all that we have. We must give over ALL: money, jobs, children and marriages. ALL. Whatever we hold back from God will serve the spirit of division and Satan is never happy with just a little. Thankfully, neither is the Spirit of God!
Zachariah 14:9
And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Ambassadors
John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Jesus was sent to earth from heaven. He was not from earth, He was sent here. Jesus sends His people. Where does He end us to? He sends us to the world to make disciples and glorify His name by good works. Where does he send us from? He sends us from Himself. Jesus is from heaven and is in heaven, He sends us from heaven.
2 Cor 5:20 tells us we are ambassadors for Christ. Phil 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven. Eph chapter 1 and 2 speak of those who believe in Jesus as being raised up to the heavenly places with Him and in Him. The point is this: we who trust Jesus are not from this world. We were from here but the moment we held to God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ and professed true faith in Him, we defected. We defected from the world to heaven.
An ambassador is from a certain country and lives in a different country. This was our old country and is now the country we are serving in. We have been sent to serve God here but we are not from here. We are from heaven with regards to our citizenship and loyalty and with regards to our resources. We are from God in heaven and will return to God in heaven. Just as Jesus was from heaven and returned to heaven. Only we are not originally from there; we are the defectors serving our new master in our old home.
Why keep emphasizing the point of citizenship? Many of us seem to have forgotten where it is we have been sent from. For many there is the concept that we are FROM here and are one day going TO heaven. No, that has already been accomplished. How could we be ambassadors to the world if we were from the world? We are in the world not of it. If we are not OF the world, what are we OF? We are OF heaven. Not in the sense that we are angels or gods but in the sense that we belong to God, in heaven, we work for Him, we get all we need from Him and we will go to Him when we are through here.
Why is this so important to realize? This is why: we operate here with the authority of Jesus in heaven, we draw on the heavenly powers in Christ Jesus for all the work HE gave us to do. We ask for and receive supplies, resources, direction and our training from heaven. The Holy Spirit is resident with us and navigates our course for us. We cannot have the mindset that this is our home – even a temporary one. This is not a home but a place to stay; a place to work. There is a difference. If our belief is that this is our home for now and we simply go to a new and better home later, we will be too busy making this the best home we can. If we can realize that this is simply a workplace; although we have much to enjoy here; we will enjoy more freely, work harder at our REAL jobs and look forward to leaving it all behind.
Most importantly we must see that we are not randomly in any situation or place. In every circumstance, we have the power from God, direct from our heavenly home, to accomplish His work here. He has sent us and He will supply all we need. We have what we ask for when we are doing the work He has sent us to do. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. We have access to our heavenly Father at all times and our Jesus always watches over us and intercedes for us. God dispatches his angels at our call in prayer when we are faithfully engaged in His work. And when we are not? Well, if we behave as if we have returned to our original home or don’t act as if we have ever defected, then we will have to be content with what the world has to give; which is nothing good.
We are Christ’s ambassadors and now is the favorable time and this is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2)
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Jesus was sent to earth from heaven. He was not from earth, He was sent here. Jesus sends His people. Where does He end us to? He sends us to the world to make disciples and glorify His name by good works. Where does he send us from? He sends us from Himself. Jesus is from heaven and is in heaven, He sends us from heaven.
2 Cor 5:20 tells us we are ambassadors for Christ. Phil 3:20 says our citizenship is in heaven. Eph chapter 1 and 2 speak of those who believe in Jesus as being raised up to the heavenly places with Him and in Him. The point is this: we who trust Jesus are not from this world. We were from here but the moment we held to God’s promise of salvation through Jesus Christ and professed true faith in Him, we defected. We defected from the world to heaven.
An ambassador is from a certain country and lives in a different country. This was our old country and is now the country we are serving in. We have been sent to serve God here but we are not from here. We are from heaven with regards to our citizenship and loyalty and with regards to our resources. We are from God in heaven and will return to God in heaven. Just as Jesus was from heaven and returned to heaven. Only we are not originally from there; we are the defectors serving our new master in our old home.
Why keep emphasizing the point of citizenship? Many of us seem to have forgotten where it is we have been sent from. For many there is the concept that we are FROM here and are one day going TO heaven. No, that has already been accomplished. How could we be ambassadors to the world if we were from the world? We are in the world not of it. If we are not OF the world, what are we OF? We are OF heaven. Not in the sense that we are angels or gods but in the sense that we belong to God, in heaven, we work for Him, we get all we need from Him and we will go to Him when we are through here.
Why is this so important to realize? This is why: we operate here with the authority of Jesus in heaven, we draw on the heavenly powers in Christ Jesus for all the work HE gave us to do. We ask for and receive supplies, resources, direction and our training from heaven. The Holy Spirit is resident with us and navigates our course for us. We cannot have the mindset that this is our home – even a temporary one. This is not a home but a place to stay; a place to work. There is a difference. If our belief is that this is our home for now and we simply go to a new and better home later, we will be too busy making this the best home we can. If we can realize that this is simply a workplace; although we have much to enjoy here; we will enjoy more freely, work harder at our REAL jobs and look forward to leaving it all behind.
Most importantly we must see that we are not randomly in any situation or place. In every circumstance, we have the power from God, direct from our heavenly home, to accomplish His work here. He has sent us and He will supply all we need. We have what we ask for when we are doing the work He has sent us to do. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. We have access to our heavenly Father at all times and our Jesus always watches over us and intercedes for us. God dispatches his angels at our call in prayer when we are faithfully engaged in His work. And when we are not? Well, if we behave as if we have returned to our original home or don’t act as if we have ever defected, then we will have to be content with what the world has to give; which is nothing good.
We are Christ’s ambassadors and now is the favorable time and this is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Free Book For You
We would love to send you a book that we hope will be used by God to encourage you in your walk with Jesus.
It is called "Beloved Believer" and was written by Deb. It is an exhortation/encouragement to the church to pursue Jesus joyfully and seriously as if your life depended on it (which of course it does). This is the outpouring of God's love for His people as He has laid on her heart.
If you would like a copy; leave your comment and we will send you one. The book is on CD and will need to be loaded to your computer and you can print it, or we can send it to you via e-mail. Much love to you in Jesus Name
It is called "Beloved Believer" and was written by Deb. It is an exhortation/encouragement to the church to pursue Jesus joyfully and seriously as if your life depended on it (which of course it does). This is the outpouring of God's love for His people as He has laid on her heart.
If you would like a copy; leave your comment and we will send you one. The book is on CD and will need to be loaded to your computer and you can print it, or we can send it to you via e-mail. Much love to you in Jesus Name
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
