Very Brief on Living in the Power of Jesus

         The Lord continues to teach us about living in the Spirit, in the Holiness and righteousness of Jesus.  Jesus gave us the power to live pleasing to Him, the same power that rose Him from the dead, so we should live in that same power overcoming sin and death.  

        So if I say that I am walking in the power of Jesus, then I am saying that I am living my life without sin in Holiness and Righteousness.  Isn’t the blood of Jesus all-powerful enough to keep me from sinning?  Do I say that I struggle with sin and yet call myself a Christian?  If I say that I struggle with sin then I am really saying that the blood of Jesus –  the Holy and Righteousness blood of Jesus is not powerful nor sufficient enough to deliver me from sin. 

       But reality is, if I say I struggle with sin, then not only am I denying the power of the blood of Jesus, but I love sin more than the Goodness and Holiness of God.  The world and Satan wants us to believe that living in the Spirit – living in victory over sin is not possible…well, was the resurrection of Jesus possible?? 

         Has not God given us all we need to live a godly life?  I can do nothing in my power to please the Lord, it is only in surrendering completely to Him and understanding that I am powerless but He is all-powerful and mighty!! This is the Gospel!! Amen!  Oh, but this is offensive to many church people who love sin, who do not know the power of God. 

           Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not talking about “sinless perfection”, I am talking about abiding in the Spirit and discovering all the goodness of God.  Having all of God is Good, devoting all of myself to the goodness, righteousness, fairness, mercy, grace, love, wisdom, power, majesty, knowledge, understanding of the Lord is all GOOD!!

          Many people like to tell me, “you need to have balance”…what is balance??  Peppering all the goodness of God with some sin and the world??  That is senseless.  Why not abide completely in all the goodness of God and experience that little piece of Heaven that He allows us to experience while on this earth when we are obedient to Him…that wonderful deposit that surpasses anything the world has to offer.. that wonderful deposit that surpasses anything my flesh has to offer…that wonderful deposit given only by God through obedience to Him so we can know of the greater things to come in eternity!!  

         That wonderful deposit is what gives me the confidence of eternal life…this confidance is not given by man, nor is it given by church, nor is it obtained by “asking Jesus into your heart”, it is given by God to those who are obediant to Him through Jesus Christ, it is this wonderful deposit that drives me ever so closer to Him.  Is there something in this world more valuable than this??  What will I sell my inheritance for??  A bowl of soup? 

      What great joy!! Praise the Lord!! Hate sin, Love Jesus.  Forget about the world, Love Jesus.  Heavenly minded is Good.  Worldly minded brings death.  Live in the Holiness and Righteousness of the Lord without sin. 

       Seek all understanding and all things from the Lord.  Jesus is Alive!! He is Alive and waiting for us to ask Him for the power to overcome sin…Jesus is Alive and waiting for us to ask Him for understanding and wisdom…Jesus is Alive waiting for us to repent…Jesus is Alive and waiting for us to trust in Him…Jesus is Alive and wants us to depend fully on Him.  Look up and know that Jesus rose from the dead and is Alive forever, waiting for us to talk with Him about everything!  He wants to share all His goodness with us, but we must turn our heads up and talk with Jesus and listen to Him.  Do you know the voice Jesus Christ?

The Manna Part 3

6/4/2009

What is the food of Egypt?

“…We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic…” Numbers 11:6

        Eating the food of Egypt is doing all the things we did while enslaved to the world, enslaved to the pleasures of our flesh and the world.  All of our own hopes, dreams,  hobbies, desires, pride, lusts, disobedience… all these things are pleasing to the flesh but lead to destruction.  Our own heart is deceitful above all things – Jeremiah 17:9,

       Why follow our desires if they lead to death? Commit our heart to Him who is incorruptible and the Solid Rock – “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” 2Cr 10:5 NKJV –

          Where is our faith?  Why do we bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? Because He is Worthy, Holy and True, the Solid Rock.   All our own thoughts and heart are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

            We have access to all things that are according to His Will in Jesus Christ for each and every one of us, but we must all submit to His Will, being lead by the Holy Spirit, abiding in Christ, repenting from all our idols.  Let us be diligent to seek the Lord in honesty and ask Him to reveal all our idols so we can get rid of them.   Let us cry out to Him in fasting and prayer.

          Nothing in this world is worth holding onto.  Let us never believe the teaching of a man as if it is gospel, but seek the Lord Himself as He has given us access to Him – He has all knowledge, all understanding, all Wisdom, all Power, everything is given to Him, who is Jesus Christ – all we need to do is ask, but shall we ask while we hold onto idols? 

         Let us repent and call upon the name of the Lord, and He will give us wisdom and understanding and all things pertaining to this life and that to come.

The Manna Part 2

6/3/2009

What is the Manna?

            Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. –The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.  Num 11:7-8 NKJV

            Just as the Manna does not seem so appealing: So too, it does not seem so appealing to give up all our own passions, desires, dreams, hopes, worldly treasures, hobbies,  video games, T.V. shows, self-centeredness, pornography, lusts of the eyes, pride of life, lust of the flesh, yes indeed all things pertaining to this flesh and world –yes our entire life “because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” – 1Pe 1:16 NKJV

       Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest [your] hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, [as] in your ignorance; – 1Pe 1:13-14 NKJV

“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” Luke 14:33 NKJV – This is eating the Bread of Life – The Manna. (John 6:51; John 14:6; Luke 13:24; Luke 14:26; Mathew 7:13-14; 21; Mathew 10; 2 Peter 1:10; Philipeans 2:12, Hebrews 11, James 4:3-4, Gal 2:20, etc… I can name examples from every book of the Bible, but time fails me)  Jesus proclaimed that He is the Bread of Life, the Manna, but many turned away for that was a hard saying. 

            Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. John 2:23-25 NKJV –

            Jesus Christ lived and taught such a radical message; attacking the natural flesh from every angle – so much… – so radical – so violently opposing the natural evil world and flesh that He was killed for it!  And millions upon millions of followers have followed suit and still do even today, being slaughtered for their faith in Jesus Christ.    

            Jesus conquered evil and the flesh and death, by rising from the dead!! Where else is such teaching? Humans are not able to preach such a message as Jesus did, for all we know  as sinful man  is the pleasure of the flesh and world, how can we know to preach something so violently opposed to that which is natural such as Jesus did? 

          Only the Son of God, God came in the flesh, only a Holy and Righteous God could possibly have preached such a message as  was delivered to Moses and fulfilled perfectly in Jesus Christ.  All other religions, and denominations, and all else proclaim  teachings  that are pleasing to the flesh and the world; testifying against themselves that they are from human sources!!!

          Praise be to God and His wonderful Wisdom that confounds the wisdom of men!!!  We can only live in this world as Christians with the supernatural power; with the same One who raised Jesus from the dead – The Holy Spirit.     If we don’t live in this power, we are helpless against the things of our flesh and the world, for nothing else conquered the world besides Jesus Christ!  

 – And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Rom 8:10-11NKJV

The Manna Part 1

6/3/2009

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! – Exd 32:9 NKJV

        Let us not gather ourselves with those who rise up and play as the children of Israel did while they waited on Moses, let us learn from their example and be ever so diligent to wait patiently for the Lord to return and for the redemption of our bodies.  Let us be satisfied with what He gives to us in Jesus Christ who is our Manna from Heaven.  Let us not become like the children who grumbled and complained in the desert, unhappy with the Manna but wanted meat. 

          Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? – We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; – but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” – Num 11:4-6 NKJV

         But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. – Num 11:33 NKJV

        Oh let us never grow weary of eating the Bread of Life!!  For sure there is suffering in eating the Manna from Heaven in which is great reward; let us never sell our inheritance for a bowl of soup like Esau!! Never let us look back to please our senses; to please our flesh desires; Oh Lord “…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil…” The children looked back at all the food of Egypt, all of that food leads to death and destruction.  Let us always surrender to Him who has Life!  “…give us this day our Daily Bread…”

The Manna Part 4

 6/5/2009

What is eating the Bread of life; the Manna from Heaven?

–           Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.Pro 3:6-7 NKJV

            What is eating the Bread of Life? Turning from Egypt and receiving what the Lord God Almighty provides for us, which is Jesus Christ.  We proclaim Him with our lips, but our heart is far from Him.  He is the Living Bread, and yet do we despise Him by turning back to Egypt, seeking to eat the food of our own flesh and the world (Egypt)? 

       Faith in Christ and eating His flesh, drinking His blood, drinking from the Water of Life, abiding in Him, trusting in Him, believing in Him, is turning away from all our evil desires, passions, lusts, dreams, hopes, hobbies, worldly philosophies, all the things we naturally want to pursue as fleshly humans and committing to follow Him and Him alone instead. 

        Don’t we so often proclaim faith alone in Jesus Christ , and yet we gather butter and cinamon from Egypt and add it to the Manna to suite our pleasures and proclaim liberty in Christ alone to do so? What does faith in Christ alone mean?  It means eating from the Bread of Life purely as it came from Heaven and presented to us in the full sufficiency that God has provided. 

       Here is a  brief summary of eating the pure Manna:

• Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit day by day, without worry for tomorrow
•  Being born of God, not of our own will
• Submitting to the Will of God through Jesus Christ who works in us to be conformed to His image
•  Hating our life
•  Being Holy as He is Holy
•  Not giving into temptation but calling on Him in time of need to deliver us from temptation
• Being separated out as a peculiar people
• Loving nothing in the world, so that all we can say and do and think is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings
•  Being consumed by His Spirit as He takes over the very essence of our being – our heart
•  Always working for the day is short, redeeming the time. 
• Calling on His name and He will perform all that He says!!

       Do not make Him a liar by trusting in the things of the world and false teachings.  Does He not say “seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you?”  What things?  All the things of life that we need, not want, but need to sustain His purpose for our life, not our purpose.  He has a purpose and plan for every single person born of Him in the Body of Christ, but we will never know it, unless we give our entire life over to Him and lead by the Holy Spirit and gather with the rest of our brothers and sisters in Christ, loving each other.

    What does it mean for me to have faith?

•  I have faith that I am losing nothing by not seeking my own pleasures
• I have faith that I am losing nothing by not seeking my own dreams
• I have faith that I am losing nothing by not seeking my own passions
•  I have faith that I am losing nothing by not listening to worldly beliefs
•  I have faith that I am losing nothing by not listening to worldly philosophies
• I have faith that I am losing nothing by not listening to worldly wisdom.
• I have faith that not eating the food of Egypt and eating the Manna from Heaven is Life and Joy. 

       What does that make me? A peculiar person, separated out unto the Gospel of God, a sojourner and pilgrim, having faith in Jesus Christ instead.  Calling on Him who is near, giving myself as a living sacrifice, giving Him my very life center, which is my heart, my core essence, my entire self, my entire life that is all contained in one word – heart. 

       Without my heart I am dead.  If I give Him my heart then His life pumps into my dead bones, giving me life abundantly, just as my blood reaches every cell of my body, so His Life reaches every cell of my being, overflowing with rivers of living water. 

      I have faith that I lose nothing but gain everything in Him, but yet I do lose everything but gain all things in Jesus Christ, looking forward to the resurrection of the dead, forever to live with Him in such a place I cannot even begin to fathom, although He has allowed us to fathom a portion as described in Rev 21; How great that He has given us such great hope!  The more we understand and experience the wonders of His Glory, Grace, and Mercy and the more we dwell in His light, then the darkness of the world is clearly seen and becomes utterly dark compared to the light. 

Mat 6:23 NKJV – But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great [is] that darkness!

        Imagine this:  If we spend a lot of time in a room that is brightly Light and turn off the Light, everything is so utterly dark, but as we spend time in the darkness, our eyes get used to the darkness and adjust, so that now the darkness becomes light, our reference is no longer the bright Light but the light in the darkness.  We then begin to say that it is not so dark anymore and manageable.  If then our light is darkness how great is that darkness!!  When the bright Light shines in, oohh…. How painful at first, we scream and cover our eyes, slowly peaking through letting some of the Light in, squinting and blinking, until we are fully opened to the bright Light.  Now we proclaim, oh how dark, utterly dark the darkness that previously surrounded us was, but now we see all things in this bright Light and how beautiful everything is !!

      Therefore, let us ever so abide in His Light, and have nothing to do with the darkness.  The Light exposes all false teachings.