Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Statues and money and man...Oh My!

His second commandment. His standard for worship and adoration as well as His intolerance for man building foundations upon men or worse… what do we worship?


Exodus
 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 

 God does not call for us to create and worship graven images of His likeness; He is Spirit AND He has no need for man to worship things made by man. 
Do you know who needs graven images, etched into stone or gold to be a pillar of power and hierarchy, a place of refuge for the lost who have no hope in God? 

Man does. 

The man who has fallen so far away in faith, who cannot bring himself to fall short of the glory of God, the man who would rather put his trust in man because accountability for his life to a living God is simply too much a burden to bear.

What a sad realization.

God does warn man time and time again, He will not stand for such indignation and He does tell us the cost of those moments we choose to worship any other than Him alone.

Leviticus
26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.

26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. 

Isaiah
42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 

God is all Spirit. He has no desire to watch His children worship physical objects erected by the hands of man, in His name or in the name of any other.
God asks us as spiritual beings first, to show our worship, our adoration and commitment to Him in many ways, save for bowing down to images conjured up by man.

John
4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 

Psalm
132:7 We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. 

God loves His children to worship, to sing praises and to give thanks to His Mighty Hand, amen. He calls us to walk in His way, follow His commandments and to love Him alone. 
To live righteously in our walk, with the will of our LORD as our only desire, this is worship, this is how we show our Father that He is our hearts desire.

There is a word we all know called vanity, being vain. This word, as we think of it, means selfish, ego, considering one's value to be higher than others. Do you know what it means in the language of God's chosen?

Emptiness.

Everytime we stand as God's creation and bow down to graven images made by man, we do surely test the merciful limits of God and we do so in vain.

Deuteronomy
6:16 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.
6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
6:18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers. 

Remember, graven images are not just golden statues and temples. Money, material items, the earth itself and MAN all become “images" we worship when we adore the created and not our CREATOR!

Bow down for the LORD alone, live in His righteousness and sing His praises, on your knees and with your spirit…

so He can hear you.

Be blessed xo

Let us start from The Beginning

These words are the first of many, given to His people as the standard of which a man's heart shall be judged. 

This is His first commandment.


Exodus
20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Living in Spirit, we do come to understand, that our eternal usefulness is dependant on how much we invest in our LORD here, today, in this life on earth. Do we, as Christians, follow the Ten Commandments? Do we truly love God with all our hearts, souls and minds? And do we still, seek for discernment and pray steadfastly for His will to be our own? 
I do. I pray you do as well, amen. 

God made these words special. Like, really special, and they are His first words for a very important reason. Would you want to spend eternity not knowing if the guy next to you would turn from our LORD and give his heart to another? Me either.
God, in all His perfection knows His plan and His people will forever take part in carrying out His will. Therefore, His people must have hearts that are truly and purely His. This begins, and truly ends with His first commandment.

Exodus
18:11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. 


22:20 He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. 

23:24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. 

The LORD will not stand for any man, for His sake OR for our own, who will turn to any god but He who is the GOD. 

So what is a god? By what measure do we set a standard of divinity and power? Sadly, most of us are far from grace in reality when it comes to this first and all important commandment. 
Any “thing" we place above God within our lives, however small, for however briefly, is putting other gods before the Almighty.
That greed, that power, those clothes and cars, even those twinges of doubt and worry over life's discrepancies… all shorten our faith and we are but for a moment at times, showing God that we will turn from Him.

Matthew
6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

This scripture in Matthew is literal in so many ways. Clearly we cannot claim to love God with all we are and yet be of this world. We must also see how this applies to losing faith, giving into flesh, fear, doubt and how anything, be it material or simply an emotion can quickly become god like if we feed it. 

Jeremiah
17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. 
And oh how we as Christians fall for this. That serpent knows the depths of your heart as well and he does make a quick work of your love for your pastor, your leaders in faith, your friends.
We must stay ever close to God and focus on the fruit of those around us so that we do not lay adoration and glory upon any man. 

Matthew
15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 

Fruit. Fruit. Fruit. 

And then there's the saddest part of us all...

Acts
17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. 

Remember with each desire of your heart, every feeling of lust, envy, fear, worry and yearning of the flesh, we are worshipping the unknown god. 
Our Father loves us to a measure our physical selves simply cannot comprehend. He wants and needs every piece of who we are to want Him and to love Him, this so we may forever be a part of leading others to becoming sons of THE LIVING GOD!! 

Let us love with our whole heart the God we know. Our Father who created us in His image, to forever remain ALIVE in Him eternally, fulfilling His will. 

Mark
12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. 

Be blessed xo

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Falling from Grace

So, you believe you have been saved by grace… one time, forever saved and being sorry in the name of Jesus shall eternally set you free… here is His gift to you, again.


James 
4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 


We are taught in today's world by our pastors, our teachers and often by our parents growing up, that we are created in sin, given life everlasting and we are covered by grace in the life and death of our LORD Jesus Christ, amen. Now of course, here comes the part where I tell you some of this is true, God's Word is faithful.


BUT… here comes the part where I tell you sadly, much of what you may have been led to believe about that beautiful gift grace, may not be truth, God's truth.


I'll let Paul tell you why…


Ephesians
 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)
2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. 


This is you. And this is me. This is ALL of us. We are lowly, sinful flesh that can only be made whole in the goodness of our Father God, amen. This scripture above perfectly describes grace, REAL grace… it is who Jesus is, what He did for our sake and the standard in which God calls us to live by if we want to receive that eternal gift called grace.


Grace is SO much more than; 

*We are sinners who fell away from God
*God sent Jesus to live amongst us, to show us The Way
*Jesus had to die to become the final sacrifice that would atone for all sin
*We are freely able to gauge our own appropriateness of "sin” and maybe repent *BUT if we sin again, grace covers us so we're good!


Jesus is grace. He calls us to believe on Him, follow in His example, follow the will of God and to obey His commandments. 
Grace, in the language of God's people (hebrew) means favor. God was willing, yes because we were SO far away from His will, to send His power, His authority and His Spirit to this earth to show FAVOR to His children.
God did so love His children, that He allowed for His spirit to manifest in the flesh of Jesus so that we may have the everlasting example to strive in to become sons of God;
Yes that Holy flesh that was made and kept perfect did atone for sin in those whose names are written in His book,
And yes, we are given grace ie FAVOR in that the LORD was and is willing to forgive us from our sin if we truly repent, follow the Ten Commandments and refrain from committing those sins again.


Many also believe that we are under grace therefore we are NOT under the law…


Romans 
6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 


Jesus clarifies very well here in saying we are made free from sin only in that we are shown favor by God, if we follow His Word we will become servants of righteousness! This is INSTEAD of being doomed to be apart from God because of our sins eternally AND that this will only be gifted to us IF we love God with all our hearts, souls and minds and by following His commandments.


2 Peter 
3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 


If we are saved by grace alone as many do believe, than growing in grace as said by the LORD himself would not be a possible thing to do! This one scripture verily does describe what we are to do; we are to grow in favor of our LORD, this by growing in knowledge of Him as He was in flesh as well as who He is in Spirit. 
It is following His commandments, repenting for sin and abstaining from what is NOT of Him. 


Hebrews
 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 


Again, Jesus is grace, He is the gift of favor bestowed upon those that choose to follow the will of God; through believing He is God in the flesh, following His Ten Commandments and in being fully accountable for oneself to God. 


This is how we eternally receive that beautiful, amazing gift we call Jesus who is our grace. 


God is TRULY in favor for us! It is all for us, so that we may be useful and purposeful to His eternal plan. He must have accountability in His children and has given us His standard in His Word. In His gift of grace (Jesus), He did not absolve any one thing previously written or any one thing planned for the future. GOD DOES NOT CHANGE… we do. Either continually growing in His favor amen or falling to the deception of I'm trying and good enough.


Be accountable. Be full of good works. Be favourable. 


Matthew 
7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 


God bless xo