RECEIVING THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST

 God/Holy Ghost like a cloud                                    Holy Ghost pours out of that cloud

  

            We refuse to accept                           Rivers of living water gushing forth

My wife and I were in marriage counselling in a Southern Baptist church in Maryland.  The pastor had a funny idea – if the couple were not saved, he wouldn’t perform the ceremony.  He felt that Jesus had to be in the marriage if it were to succeed.  The pastor asked me if I had ever given my heart to Jesus I responded “I’ve attended Sunday School in this church from elementary school through high school.”  Now this was a new pastor in the church.  I don’t remember if he had been there a little over a year or a little less than a year, but he asked me again if I knew Christ.  Again I responded “I haven’t missed many services either.”  He looked at me and again said that wasn’t what he asked so he asked me again if I had ever given my heart to Jesus.  I’m twenty-six years old in this stage of my life and one might think I could have continued to side-step him BUT the Holy Ghost convicted me in my heart with the third question that the only honest and truthful answer I could give was “No”.  He asked me if I would like to and still under the conviction of the Holy ghost I prayed the ‘sinner’s prayer’ with him letting Jesus into my life.  This was back in 1972 and ever since that moment I’ve known I belonged to God through Jesus Christ.  

Have I always lived like I belonged to God?  No, but that was the beginning of my walk and my growth in the Lord with and through Jesus.  I’ve spent a life time since then yielding more and more of my life over to Christ and I must admit, that because of ignorance, stubbornness and a myriad of other reasons it has been a long slow trek for me.  I will say this, that every time I think I’ve made good headway, Father shows me how little I have actually grown.  Oft times I wonder if I will ever grow up!

I mean, naturally I’ve grown physically.  I have aged, my body has physically changed but this is only one part of growing up.  There are two more areas involved: emotionally  and spiritually.

Basically emotional maturity is not letting our emotions control us, but rather we bring our emotions under subjection to ‘our spirit’, our will.  We yield our unbridled will to Jesus and become subject to His leading, then we endeavor to bring the rest of our body into subjection to our will (as it is subject to Jesus, see 1 Corint. 9:27).  This means our speech, our actions and our thoughts.  Our goal is to become Christlike in and through our complete lifestyle, what we say, what we do and what we think.  

When I was ten or eleven a bunch of us kids would go up to the top of the street to play.  There was an avenue with each direction split by a grassy island, which of course had opening to allow passage both ways from each street.  One night as we were playing up there, I fell and split my hand open on a piece of broken glass.  I walked back to my house with my friends, my hand gushing blood and was taken to the hospital for stitches.  But I told myself “What a big boy I am now.”  I hadn’t shed one tear the whole time.  And I didn’t shed a tear the rest of my life until my wife went to be with the Lord about fifty years later.  So, am I saying that we control our emotions so that we never display them again?  Of course not!  Read Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven”.  Don’t forget to read the rest of the chapter.  Everything has a time and a place.  Even Jesus got angry (Matt. 21:12-13), when He overthrew the tables of the money changers and said “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves!”   Trust me, Jesus wasn’t saying this with a soft still voice.  He turned tables over.  He was hot.  And rightfully so.

When my wife went to be with the Lord, I cried.  When I was alone (just me and the cats and the Lord), more than once I cried with deep sorrow that I had for my loss.  She was with the Lord so it was her gain, but I missed her deeply and I even felt a little guilty that maybe there was something I could have, should have, done.  Father told me later, there was nothing I could have changed. She had suffered much in her lifetime and it was her time.  From that moment on Father began His work in me.

By the way, it was my loss not expressing emotions for so long.  I lived in a controlled rage for most of those years.  By the grace of God I didn’t ‘go off’ often but when I did, it was short, pent up bursts of emotion – no tears, just anger.  I don’t know how different my life would have been over the years, but I do know now that even though it is OK to express our emotions, we don’t let our emotions go ‘haywire’.  We express them when necessary, but we aren’t driven by them.  I’ve always been a relatively ‘closed’ person.  Didn’t share much with others, even hardly with my wife, but over the years, Father opened me up.  Even now, I don’t share my business with others except when it can help them get through something.  And I will say that now, more than my wife and children get hugs from me.

Spiritual growth turning our lives over to the Lord.  To do that means reading the bible.  If we don’t read we don’t know what it says.  If we don’t know what it says, we can’t apply it to our lives.  When we don’t seem to be able to understand it, we get help.  Spiritual growth also mean improving our relationship and communication with Father.  These two go hand in hand – communication and relationship (works in our natural lives, too).  When we read the bible, we learn how to distinguish what God is telling us versus our own mind or even a demonic entity trying to put thoughts into our minds.  When we pray, Father opens up our understanding of what we read in the bible.  When we read more, our prayers become more effective because we learn how to pray.  As our prayer life increases we understand better, as we understand better we can draw more from what we read and then get even closer to our Lord.  As we interact with our pastors, church elders brothers and sisters in the Lord, we feed and draw from each other growing even more so don’t forsake the fellowshipping together (Heb. 10:25) for we overcome him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony (Rev.12:11).

 

Spiritual growth is ‘how close are we willing to walk with Father?’  What does it take to walk closer with Father through Jesus Christ?  And that, my friends, as Paul Harvey used to say ‘is the rest of the story.

My baptism in the Holy Ghost came in 1978, nearly six years after I had given my heart to the Lord.

Briefly, my wife and I went to a rally in Frederick, Maryland presented by a noted spirit-filled, evangelical speaker, who was also a pastor in a Virginia church.  At the end of the rally they broke us (those who professed an interest) into three groups: salvation, healing and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  My wife and I went for the baptism.  We had been hearing and learning a little about this from some charismatic friends and decided since we were already ‘saved’, weren’t interested in a healing so what was left?  As we gathered, there was a group of maybe a dozen or so people.  The leaders of the group explained what we could expect and what we needed to do.  After some prayer they tried to ‘jump start’ us (they said some words in the Spirit and asked us to repeat after them).  By the end of the session.  Everybody, including my wife, was speaking in their spiritual language.  Everybody that is except me.  I was hurt, concerned and maybe even a little angry.  I knew the bible, I

could feel God’s hand on my life and I was more spiritual than my wife (I thought) so what was wrong with me?

My wife and I went home and talked and prayed about it some and she was getting tired (it was well after midnight) so she went to bed.  I stayed up talking with Father more.  He finally gave me some instruction and by the time we (God & I) were done I had received  baptism in the Holy Ghost, including the evidence of speaking in tongues (my spiritual language).  Now I know that Cornelius and his family (Acts 10:44-46) were saved AND baptized in the Holy Ghost at the same time, as Peter yet spoke.  So I see in scripture that  salvation and the baptism in the Holy Ghost can happen at the same time or there might be a time lag as in Acts chapter nine when Saul (Paul) met our Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus and gave his heart to Him but it was later in Damascus that Ananias came to him and he (Saul) received the baptism of the Holy Ghost then (Acts 9:17-18).  I’ve been reading Kenneth Hagin and he, too experienced a lag in time between his salvation experience and his baptism in the Holy Ghost experience (“The Holy Spirit and His Gifts”).

Indwelling and Infilling

So what I’ve been learning recently is terminology.  I’ve personally known what I experienced and have seen confirmation in what I’ve been reading, I just didn’t know what things were called.

Indwelling

The Holy Ghost comes to dwell within the hearts of all believers.  Those who have repented their sins, confessed jesus Christ and believed that God has indeed raised Him from the dead are ‘believers’ (1 John 1:9 & Romans 10:9).

After the ‘Passover Supper’ Jesus talked with His disciples and in part “…Nonetheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient that I go away for if I don’t, the Comforter will not come, but if I depart, I will send Him to you…” Jesus had to experience the crucifixion and the resurrection before His disciples could receive the Holy Ghost.

So after the resurrection, fearing the Jews, the disciples were gathered together when Jesus came and stood in their midst.  Part of what Jesus said to them was “Receive the Holy Ghost.  Whose sins you remit, they are remitted to them and whose sins you retain, they are retained.” (John 20:22-23).   And so the disciples received the Holy Ghost.  But this wasn’t the baptism (infillng) of the Holy Ghost which occurred in Acts chapter two, but rather this was the indwelling, where because of our faith, the Holy Ghost takes up residence in our hearts.

Paul shares with us that because we believe in Jesus, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and He ils the earnest (downpayment) of our inheritance (salvation) until our redemption (Eph. 1:12-14), or with Jesus in eternity.

Infilling/Baptism

In his book “The Holy Spirit and His Gifts”, Kenneth Hagin explains the difference between the ‘indwelling’ and the ‘infilling’ of the Holy Ghost.  

 Jesus talking with His disciples in the temple said “He who believes on Me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water shall flow out of his belly.” But He was speaking of the Spirit which believers would receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:38-39).  This is the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  And Jesus promised when He said to them “But you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and to be (this is not ‘to be’, but AND) witnesses for me in Jerusalem … and to the farthest parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8).

What has helped me the most in understanding the difference between  the indwelling and he infilling is looking at John chapter four and John chapter seven.  Jesus tells the woman at the well “If you knew the gift of God and He who was talking with you, you would ask to be given the living water.”  … and “Who drinks this water (from Jacob’s well) will thirst again, but he who drinks the water I will give him will never thirst, but it shall be a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:10-14).  This is the Holy Ghost taking up residence in us at our ‘salvation experience’ and equates to when Jesus breathes on His disciples and says “receive the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22-23) which is the indwelling.  But the ‘rivers of living waters’ flowing out of our bellies (John 7:38-39) is the full operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the infilling, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit builds us up as an individual.  It confirms our salvation (Romans 8:14-16), leads us into all truths (John 16:13) and helps our infirmities (Romans 8:26-27).  It’s like, as Paul says, the praying in tongues builds up the individual, me, (1 Corinth. 14:4).  Paul goes on in the same passage to push prophesying as being better because it edifies the church (1 Corinth. 14:4-6) but) tongues (as the outpouring of the Holy Ghost may be used with the conditions given in v6, by revelation, knowledge, prophesying or doctrine, each which come down to an interpretation of the tongue.  And Paul tells us that the tongue in church should be with interpretation (1 Corinth. 14:26-31) so all can benefit.

Now, even though speaking in tongues (our personal prayer language) and the ‘prophetic’ tongue all come by the same Holy Ghost the capability to pray in the spiritual language is received with the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Note again, personal prayer builds us up as an individual and the ‘prophetic tongue’ builds up others. 

Father has given me something I can live with and that is a correlation with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in respects to my personal prayer language, in that it builds me up but stays within me (or between God and me) (I drink and will never thirst).  Where the ‘prophetic’ tongue is the outpouring of the Holy Ghost or the power of th Holy Ghost manifested through me (rivers of living waters).  I know that there are those who would probably argue this, but I said it was something ‘I can live with’ or helps me understand the difference between the indwelling and the infilling (baptism) of the Holy Ghost.  I mean it is still the same Holy Ghost, just a difference in how He operates or manifests Himself in us or through  us, the difference, again, is edifying me or edifying those around me.  Having said all this, I am aware that the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is the speaking with other tongues (Acts 2;1-4, Acts 10:44-46, Acts 19:6, three witnesses).  I’m not saying we have ‘tongues’ without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for we don’t have tongues, our heavenly prayer language, without the baptism, but it does help me understand the relationship between the indwelling and the ilnfilling of the Holy Ghost. 

Now, keep two things in mind:  1)We should not quench the Spirit (1Thess. 5:19), that is extinguish to put out; and yield ourselves to God as servants of righteousness, for whom we yield ourselves to, we serve (Rom. 6:13-19).  2)We yield ourselves to serve God and don’t forbid or deny the Holy Ghost to operate in us and/or through us by rejecting what Father has freely given us.  When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness He will provide all that we need (Matt. 6:33).  Let us receive it, with rejoicing.

God/the Holy Ghost  is like a cloud

A while back, Father brought to my remembrance a rain cloud I had seen on the distant horizon.  It was raining and as I watched, fingers reached down from the cloud to the earth and there was no disconnect between the cloud and the earth. 

Eventually the fingers blended together so the cloud reaching down to the earth had become one single mass.  It looked like the cloud itself was reaching down to the earth’s surface and settling on it.  Of course, the rain cloud eventually emptied, the rain stopped and the cloud dissipated. 

However, God’s ‘cloud’ never dries up and never dissipates.   Father spoke to my heart saying “In similar fashion I pour out My Holy Spirit on those who will receive Me.”  Again, this is the situation we read in Acts chapter two with the apostles and disciples in the upper room.  They were expecting to receive the Holy Ghost as Jesus promised, they just weren’t sure only soon (Acts 1:5).  They were expecting Him and they received Him when He came.

When God led Israel out of Egypt, He did so in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exod. 13:21-22) so I’m not surprised He would relate to a cloud to demonstrate this truth as He blessed the disciples.

We can fend off the raindrops

When it rains, we use raincoats and umbrellas to help stay dry.  As depicted in the picture, with our umbrellas up, the rain can’t get to us and we stay dry, untouched by the raindrops.  Now I’m talking about the baptism in the Holy Ghost, our receipt of power from on high.  Our umbrellas are our doubts, fears or even (maybe) our denial that the Holy Ghost is for today (as some believe).  We may even believe but then say “It’s not for me.” because we don’t know how to receive or are maybe even afraid to receive Him because we don’t truly understand how the Holy Ghost works.  We reject, for whatever reasons, therefore we don’t receive the power from on high Father offers to all believers.

 John 7:38 says “out of his (the believer's) belly shall flow rivers of living water.  This is an outpouring from us, this is expressed in the picture of the geyser.  The baptism gives us the power to be vessels for God through Jesus Christ because the Holy Ghost is alive, well and operating within us, not just the salvation experience, but true power from the Father to do the works Jesus has called us to do (John 14:12) and do them most effectively.

Apollos preached a strong word (Acts 18:24-28) but when he ‘bumped’ into Aquila and Priscilla, they explained the ways of God more perfectly and the implication is he (Apollos) had more power behind his word than before.  Even Later, Paul alluded to the fact that Apollos had become a major player in spreading the gospel as he referenced him in his letters (1 Corinth. 3:3-7).  After all who were Paul and Apollos?  Nothing more than ministers of God’s Word for us.

We can only do so much with our salvation experience, but we can do so much more when we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost receiving power from on high - to live our lives for Him and then to more effectively do whatever ministry He to which He has called us.  Amen.

  

9-16-2016        Herod’s Temple, Our Walk with the Lord

   

               

             

                                                                                                            The Holy PLace

How does our walk with God relate to Herod’s Temple? 

Back in December 2014 Father gave me a bible study to bring to the fellowship on the correlation between Herod’s Temple, Solomon’s temple and where Christians are in their relationship with the Lord.  He called it the “Comfort Zone”.  The comfort zone is ‘how close are we willing to walk with God?  Or, at what level are we willing to live for Him?

 

He has continually tweaked my understanding of the ‘Comfort Zone’ and now He’s saying it’s not just enough to understand where we are in our relationship with Him, but NOW is the time to start growing closer and closer in our walk with Him by putting what we know into action into our lives.

Our first shot is an artist’s depiction of what the temple may have looked like.  In the diagram, take note that all the courtyards were within the perimeter of the temple outer wall. The Court of the Gentiles surrounds the inner courts which include the Court of Women, Court of Israel, Court of the Priests and the Holy Place.  Anyone could enter into the Court of the Gentiles but only Jewish men and women could enter into the Women’s Courtyard and only men could enter the Court of Israel (to observe sacrifices).  Then the Priest’s Courtyard was just that, a place where only priests could go. The third picture is a depiction the Holy Place which contains the Sanctuary and the smaller, Holy of Holies which is also separated by a curtain or veil.  These various areas represent the levels in which Christians, the Church of the New Testament, can walk and become comfortable in their relationship with God.

 

The Gentile’s Courtyard, along with all areas outside the temple walls represents those who are unsaved, never having given their lives to Jesus.  Woe to those who are comfortable out here for their eternity is the lake of fire.

The women’s Courtyard represents a conglomeration of people who had confessed Jesus but perhaps better designated as sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46).  The sheep, because they did God’s will, enter into eternal life.  The goats are like Simon the Sorcerer as depicted in Acts 8:5-24.   Simon confessed Jesus and was baptized along with the others in Samaria yet Peter had to rebuke him because his heart was not yet right with the Lord.  Simon had gone through the motions but his heart was not truly converted.  In Matthew chapter 25, we see the goats going into everlasting punishment.

In Jesus’ time, only Jews (or proselytes, those converted to Judaism) could enter into the Women’s Courtyard, and today we might conclude that those who have confessed Jesus and been baptized come this far in their relationship with God, whether hypocritical or genuine.  They profess and appear to have salvation.  Here, the commitment isn’t great.  That is people may do what is necessary to maintain ‘salvation (see Paul’s letters where he describes ‘should at least … Acts 15:28-29.)  These would be the souls who have no real rewards in heaven though their souls are ‘saved’ (1 Corinth. 3:13-14).  Unfortunately, along with the sheep, there may also be goats and some tares (Matt. 13:24-30) where the enemy sowed tares in the field while men slept, but our enemy sowed tares (stumbling blocks)  in our churches while they sleep.

The Priest’s Courtyard is where the animal sacrifices were performed while the men observed from the Court of Israel.  The men were generally considered the heads of household and were responsible for others.  Christ is the covering for a man and a man is the covering for the wife (1 Corinth. 11:3-12).  More responsibility means a closer walk with the Lord in order to fulfill those responsibilities and in today’s world, responsibility becomes more important than gender and those with greater responsibility need to come, at least, as far as the Court of Israel.  A closer walk with God.    

The Priest’s Courtyard is for the priesthood and in today’s world he/she who desires and seeks a closer walk with our Father.  These are the souls who have a desire not to ‘just’ live for God but have a desire to serve Him (in some capacity) and in order to serve God effectively, we need to have some sort of reasonable relationship with Him – reading the bible to learn His ways better (2 Tim:2:15), praying more intently, earnestly, so we can find His direction (Eph. 6:17).  Maybe even fasting along with those prayers (Matt. 17:20-21), more than that to which we’ve been accustomed.  And remember, we are a royal priesthood, chosen by God (1 Peter 1:5-10)

Again, in the Priest’s Courtyard we have a myriad of souls at various stages of growth in the Lord, but nonetheless, growth, a call to service.  I don’t mean just helping out with the Sunday School class or one of the ‘helps’ ministries.  It can start there but there is a hunger to understand that which Father has called us to do, a specific task, and we are growing in understanding to what that task is and then pursuing it.  This could range from being the church Janitor, the secretary, a Sunday School teacher, a youth minister, minister of music, pastor or evangelist, or prophet or an apostle, all serving God at various levels.  To what level?  Do the names Billy Graham and Benny Hinn mean anything to us?  I mean, neither Billy nor Benny started off as great preachers.  And this is a call to service, no matter what level it starts at or reaches.

Whoa!  If that’s what it takes to enter into the Priest’s Courtyard, what does it take to get into the Holy Place?

The Holy Place is a place of personal commitment – to Jesus.  It supplements, increases and/or intensifies any area of service which we enter because whenever we seek to walk closer with the Lord, He enhances whatever we do.  It doesn’t matter in what level we are serving God, entering the Holy Place reflects our personal relationship with Father.  How close are we walking with Him?  How much closer are we willing to walk with Him?  This is where Father would like ALL His children, in the Holy Place (at least) no matter at what level of service they abide.  How deep a relationship do we want with the Father?  One may ask “Do I have to have some sort of ministry to get to this level?”  No.  But I take the liberty to say that when you seek a closer walk with God, He will give you a ministry.  We can only take so much into our cup before we have to pour some back out in order to take in more.

The Holy Place contains the Sanctuary.  This where the priests offer that sweet aroma of incense to God.  The priests offered lambs, etc. for the people’s sins and healing on the altar in the Priest’s Courtyard, but in the sanctuary he lets the odor of that sweet smelling incense rise into the heavens offering up that sweet savor of true praise and worship.  When we offer true, genuine, heartfelt praise and worship to Father, He pours His love back upon us.  We touch His heart and He touches ours because when we worship Him as the only true and living God, thank Him for who He is and what He has done for us (already) and we praise Him for the same, He inhabits our praises and becomes one with us (Psalms 22:3) because we have become one with Him (John 17:15-26).    

We talk with Jesus, we walk with Jesus, we live for Jesus (because He lives in us) and we abide in Jesus and as we abide in Jesus, He and the Father abide in us (back to John 17).  Amen. 

Our personal relationship with the Lord is growing at this stage but there is one more step to take in that growth.  Every soul who has confessed Jesus, Father wants to come through that torn veil into the Holy of Holies and sup with Him.  Just as Father communed with Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall (Gen. 3:8), He wants to commune with us (His children) not just when we get to heaven, but here and now.  When we are in our personal, private prayer time with Him, He desires us to come in and sit down and commune.  Not just ‘talk’, but share our hearts with Him and then listen to what He has to share with us.  Here, the Holy Ghost interprets our feelings to our Father and the response back to us.  This is what He does (in part) (Rom. 8:26-27).

When Father brings me into His ‘zone’, that’s when He shares the things with me that He wants me to know and understand.  It’s an anointing for me because this is when He is communing with me.  It’s kind of crazy, because I don’t usually know when I enter into the “zone”, but when He has finished sharing with me, I know that I am indeed in it and it will take a while to come back out of it.  He gives me glimpses of where He’s taking me.  How the ministry He has bestowed upon me is going to unfold so I can function at the level He is calling me.  John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness,  PTL!  I’m just a pebble on the beach and because I’m just a pebble on the beach I can confidently say that what Father has done and is doing for me , He’ll do for anyone simply because He loves our obedience in His Word and His will.  He loves our returning our love to Him, no matter how feeble our attempts may seem.  He wants so much to commune with us, individually. 

The veil is torn.  The door is open.  All we have to do is walk in.  Are we willing to enter the Holy of Holies and sup with our Heavenly Father?

Amen

9-3-2016          WHERE ARE MY ROOTS?

The Family Tree

Where are my roots?  Alex Haley with his 1976 epic novel “Roots” got much of America wondering exactly what were their roots.  My mom and dad were apart by the time I was ten so I had to ask my parents separately to find out my heritage.  No, I wasn’t prompted by the TV miniseries I was already in my thirties).  So I asked years before that hit the small screen in 1977.  However, my mom was easy.  I had known my grandfather was Finnish (Finland) but during my inquiries, I discovered that my grandmother (his wife) was Swedish and their ancestry followed normal national lines.  My dad was another story.  I knew he had grown up in a corner of the country where Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky come together.  Now when I asked him about our ancestry, his ‘knee kick’ response was “Heinz 57 variety”.  As the years passed, I concluded that he was primarily German and English but he avowed that there were many nationalities intertwined over the centuries on his side of the family.  In his later years he did come up with an English coat of arms for the family, but to be honest, I think the outfit he went through, once you paid your fee for discovery, they found you a coat of arms.  BUT, I’m not talking about these ‘roots’.  Well, not completely.  

A couple of months ago I was doing the bible study at church and during the course I mentioned that if everyone thought about it, we are all (that is the world) descended from Noah.  I was quickly challenged “No, we’re all descended from Adam.   Adam was the first man!”  And so he was.

Ten or twelve years ago Father had me do a project we called “The premise”.  It was initially for my personal knowledge of who God is – Father, Son & Holy Ghost and how the Godhead is one God.  Father also had me explore some basic concepts on heaven and hell, salvation and living for and through Christ Jesus.  He also had me do an overview of many of the major religions and Christian denominations examining similarities and differences for both areas.  Here He peaked my interest, on world religions, because I was surprised at how many things in common most of those ‘pagan’ religions had with Christianity.  Since then, as I continued to read the bible, Father has been playing with my little pea-pickin’ brain.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that the primary difference between Christianity and other religions is “Jesus” and I picked up pretty quickly on this one (I amaze myself sometimes-do I need to add the “LOL” [laugh out loud]?). 

Tuesday AM during my prayer session, Father took me on a little trip – through the ages (in review) from Adam to the present.  No, I didn’t literally (bodily) tour the ages.  No I didn’t translate into the spirt and take the trip.  Instead, Father started replaying what He had been recording into my little brain over the years and connecting the dots, bible truths with various religion’s concepts.  Over the years, He’s shown me connections but lately, He’s been pulling it together for me into a better understanding.  That’s what I want to talk about now so perhaps (by the grace of God) we might come to a clearer understanding of our ‘roots’.

 In the beginning, God made His created Son, Adam in His own likeness (Gen. 1:26-28) and his mate (Eve).  God gave them freedom over the garden and the earth (Gen. 2).  He gave them a task to perform, to keep or maintain the garden (Gen. 2:15) and only one commandment, “not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16-17)”.  Until the fall we can see that God fellowshipped with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8-11), He walked in the garden with them (Gen. 3:8).  Adam and Eve operated in love and trust in their relationship with God until they disobeyed Him and ate the forbidden fruit.  God’s trust had been breached and He had to do what was right, put them out of the garden and separating them from Himself so they couldn’t live and eternal life of evil (Gen. 3:12-24) and separated them from the tree of life (v. 24). 

Genesis chapters four and five give us the family of man.  Adam and Eve brought forth Cain, who slew his brother Abel and we see God gave Eve a ‘replacement’ for Cain with Seth.  The order in which everything happens is a bit obscure but we know man started calling upon the name of the Lord after Seth’s son Enos was born and that Adam and Eve had more sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4).  In chapter five we see that Adam was one hundred thirty years old when Seth was born and Enos was born when Seth was one hundred five years old.  Bear in mind that Cain and Abel were both born sometime before Adam reached that hundred thirty mark.  My point is that man was out of the garden and populating the earth for nearly two hundred thirty-five years before they began to truly acknowledge God (Gen. 4:26)!  They knew Him because Adam and Eve had an early relationship with Him and Cain pled his case for killing his brother before the Lord (Gen. 4:4-15).  Up to this point the only “law” God gave man was to “not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge good and evil (Gen. 2:17), and they (Adam & Eve) couldn’t even do that.

As we continue reading Genesis chapter five, we see that there were men who sought after God.  We have the brief account of Enoch (Gen 5:18-24) and we see that he walked with God, then he was not for God took him.  As we read on, Enoch begat Methuselah and Methuselah begat Lamech and Lamech begat Noah.  In Genesis Chapter five, the bible follows those who would seem to have had some sort of relationship with God from Adam to Noah (read chapter five) and were approaching one thousand years (965 following birth to birth from Adam’s fall to Noah by adding the years).  Moses was yet to come so God was yet to give the ‘law’, as such,  for man to go by.  So what rules did man live by?  By the time we hit Genesis chapter six we see God was beginning to regret creating man and was ready to destroy him – except Noah (and his family), who found grace in His sight (Gen. 6:1-8) and were given refuge in the ark when God brought the flood waters upon the earth (Gen. 7:6-24).  For forty days and forty nights it rained and the fountains of the deep were opened up (Gen. 7:11-12) and the water as upon the face of the earth for a hundred and fifty days (Gen. 7:24) before any land even began to emerge. 

Man was allowed to live by his own recognition of God and man’s thought became continually evil (Gen. 6:5), so that didn’t work out very well.  In Romans 2:11-15 God tells us that those who have sinned without the law shall perish without the law and those who know the law shall be judged by the law.  Paul also cites that when we do the things contained in the law, those things become a law to us because the works of the law are written in our hearts and our conscience confirms this (Romans 2:11-16).  Nature itself declares God’s existence (read Psalms 19).  So we may conclude that the men of faith before the law looked at nature and saw God and honored Him.  Those who didn’t honor God were too blind to see.  From many ‘primitive’ societies, we know that ‘family traditions’ were handed down orally from generation to generation and we might assume that this was true back in those days.

We know that Noah pleased God (Gen. 6:8).  However, that didn’t stop God from destroying every living thing on earth (Gen. 7:21-22).  So what happened to Noah?  Who do you think was left to repopulate the earth?  The animals after their own kind and Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their wives – eight souls.  Because Noah found grace before God and as demonstrated when they set foot back on dry land worshipped Him (Gen. 8:20-21).  We might conclude that his sons learned to do the same by following dad’s example and passed that tradition down through the generations.  But the law still hadn’t been given so man still lived according to his own heart, what he though was right.  There was no established code of conduct or law dictating how one should act.  Anarchy?  Spiritual anarchy, save where men were led by the Spirit of God.  For truly man had rulers in those days and assuredly man could ‘get along’ as much as we do today.  Man also had ‘religion’ but they weren’t seeking God as God, but rather as how they ‘saw’ God.  God was relegated to an image as devised by man.  So as time passed beyond Noah, we find man doing just like before the flood.  Some saw God for who He is and others just couldn’t quite hold on to what they were taught as children and drifted away.

From Noah to Moses God still let man try to figure things out for himself.  There are many variables on how much time elapsed between Noah and Moses, so depending on what you read, (the expert’s numbers and explanations don’t all agree) the parameters seem to be between @900 to @1500 years from Noah to Moses (maybe someone out there is burdened to do more research than I).  There is also variance between the ‘experts’ as to when Moses actually lived putting the receipt of the “law” probably between somewhere between 1446 BC (most agree) to 1411 BC.  Point is that God probably got tired of waiting for man to figure how to live so He decided to give them some guidance through Moses on the mount (Exod. 20:1-17) with the Ten Commandments.  As we see in the Old Testament, Israel had problems here too.  Even after the law some kings did well (for God) while others were so far off base, they probably asked the question “God, who?”

Finally God did what He promised Adam and Eve (speaking to the serpent) “Because you have done this (tempted my children causing them to fall) you are cursed above all creatures that walk the earth.  You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.  I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed it (her seed) shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14-15).   Note that the Hebrew word used in both cases is “shuwph” (Strong’s 7779) which means to break, bruise or cover.  I think that history defines which definition fits which individual.  And God kept His promise, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus to redeem us (Titus 2:14) approximately 1400 years after the law was given.  With Jesus all we have to confess Jesus with our mouth and believe in our heart that God indeed raised Him from the dead and we attain salvation (Romans 10:9). 

But now we have another turn of events.  We are no longer bound by the Law of Moses, but through Jesus we find ourselves bound by a greater law.  The law of love (Romans 13:10).  If we live in God’s love, then we are led by His Spirit whom He puts into our hearts (John 14:16-17).  Now several things happen here: 1) The Spirit testifies of our salvation (Romans 8:16), 2) will lead us into all truth (John 16:13), 3) Gives us power (we need to live this life) and to be witnesses (for Jesus) (Acts 1:7) and 4) give us direct communication with the Father (Romans 8:26). 

So what does all this have to do with my family “roots”?  I’ve shared that my roots are found in English, Germanic, Finnish and Swedish heritages along with a few other nationalities tossed in to make it interesting.  But, that is my natural family roots.  I am also a member of the “family of God” which contains both natural and spiritual roots.  In the natural I can claim Adam and Noah then the rest becomes obscure.  Spiritually, my roots (heritage) goes directly back to Jesus AND the Father.  Why because Jesus and the Father are one (John 17:16-21) and Jesus desires us to be one with the Father through Him. 

Because everyone was eliminated before Noah (the flood), everyone who is alive today has roots going back to Noah.  All of mankind in existence today goes directly back to Noah.  Of course, because Noah’s roots go back to Adam, our do also, but there is only one descendant of Adam’s which any man can trace back to – Noah.  Now, Lord help us if we try, and are able, to discover our roots as they branch out from Noah to now, or rather try to trace them back to Noah.

Now, my spiritual roots flow back through all those men of faith, who sought after and followed God.  Men like the pastor who led me to Christ, the authors of books I have read which Father used to pen my understanding, those men who started the Pentecostal movement, those men who were instrumental in the Holiness movement, the Reformers of the 16^th century, the apostles (like Paul), Jesus (obviously) and all those men of faith whom we read about all the way back to Adam, God’s first created child.  AND, by the way, my spiritual roots go back beyond that!  My spiritual Father knew me before I was born (Jeremiah 1:5).  For He has ordered my steps (Psalms 37:23).  I am ordained of Jesus (John 15:16) because I am His friend and I know that I am His friend because He share things with me (John 15:14-15).  And I do as He asks because He abides in me and I in Him (at least I try) (John 15:1-11).  My spiritual roots keep me striving to walk closer with my Lord and Savior and I’ve drawn from all these sources and resources to help me in my walk.

Yes, it is nice and sometimes can be very interesting to know our heritage, our roots.  Yet, I must admit that I can’t go any further back than my grandparents (congratulations [and PTL] to those who have been able to go back centuries), but I CAN go back to the beginning of creation with my spiritual roots.  In the beginning God (Gen. 1:1) and I know who my BIG brother is (Romans 8:29), Jesus, I know who many siblings, in my family tree, are or have been and I have crossed paths with many brothers and sisters over the years.

Can we all say “I know my roots”?

Amen

8/20/2016   The Pride of Life

I've been reading "Men of Integrity" for a while,now.  It's a magazine of daily readings designed to help men get on the right track with God drawing from information from many authors.  Sometimes I don't read it every day, but when I pick it back up I catch up with my reading.  Fortunately it is short reading - two to three paragraphs including a 'key verse' (for reference) and the associated verses that go along with for it each day.

This AM as I was just getting started with my usual time with Father, He said "read it (Men of Integrity).  I had missed three days so I did (read it).  The title of today's (8-17-2016) passage was "Worship Conquers Pride".  Coupled with Monday's (8-16-) reading "Humbled by Greatness I said to myself "Whoa!", and Father said that's what I want to talk about for this entry.  I quickly defended myself with "Father, You'e just talking to me - and not about me -  right?"  He didn't answer me.

 In Monday's writing, Author Stephen Miller reflects on his high school basketball team in Texas a few years back.  He said that they were blowing all the other teams away and became High school champs that year.  Then their coach brought in the players from the Dallas Cowboys (yes, the football team) for a benefit game and this championship high school basketball team was totally smoked by a bunch of professional, get 'em as you can, football players. Talk about getting things into perspective (football player over basketball players)!

Today (8/17) as I'm writing this, Stephen shares how as we focus on worshipping Jesus Christ, our own lives quickly come into perspective.  Stephen's reference verse is Revelation chapter one and the final words of verse sixteen "and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength."  This, of course, is when the apostle John, the beloved, encounters Jesus and describes what he saw (Rev. 1:1-17) and is the foundation for the rest of the book.

John tells us that he was 'in the spirit' when he heard a voice which sounded like many trumpets and Jesus tells him what He wants John to do.  I'd like to remind all of us verses 12 through 18:  I turned o see who was taking to me and I turned and saw seven golden candlesticks.  In the midst of these candlesticks was like the Son of man wearing a garment down to His feet with a golden girdle about HIm.  The hairs of His head were white like wool and white as snow.  His eyes were like the flame of a fire.  His feet were like fine brass, burned in a furnace and His voice sounded like many waters.  He held seven stars in His right hand and a two-edged sword came out of His mouth and His countenance (His face) was like the sun shining in its strength.  I fell at His feet as if I were dead and He laid His hand upon me and said "Fear not, I am the first and the last.  I am He who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive for evermore.  Amen, and I have the keys of hell and death."  (how's that for an intro?)

I can imagine how this high school basketball team felt having confronted this professional football team.  Stephen relates how his whole team was totally awestruck in the presence of the pro athletes, many household names around the nation.  I can imagine how much they could relate to John, also totally awestruck in the presence of our Lord and Savior.!  The basketball team pressed for autographs and whatever else they could get from he pros and probably ran home to tell everyone they ACTUALLY met and played against them.

Somehow, I don't think John begged Jesus' autograph, but he has shared, with all of us, a record of that event.  He was so overcome by the presence of Jesus, as he tells us, he dropped like a deadman to the ground at His feet.  I can relate to this, somewhat.  When Father shares things with me, I don't feel any different while He's sharing, but once He has stopped and I try to get up ... just call me spaghetti legs.  I feel the Holy Ghost all over me, my strength is sapped.  My physical strength is literally drawn from my body.  I have a most difficult time standing up and at times I can do nothing more than literally sit there for a while before I am able to stand up and even then walking can be a formidable task. I suppose though that this is nothing compared to what John felt (in the natural).

The phrase "fear not" is used 55 times in the Old Testament and 16 times in the New Testament and most of those times it is God reassuring us not to be afraid of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  Point is that when God/Jesus appears before us, in the Spirit or otherwise, we are seriously impacted.  We are overcome by His presence, whether it be actual fear because we are afraid of what we are experiencing or because we are so totally humbled and awestruck we are driven to our knees.

Here, we relate four accounts of when man meets God and their reaction, Moses, Daniel, Saul and of course John when the Lord says "fear not".

When Moses meets God for the first time in Exodus chapter three (Exod. 3:5-6), God tells him to take off his shoes for he is standing on holy ground so Moses hides his face for he was afraid to look upon God.  The Jews knew that one didn't look upon God and live.  But he also knew that he was encountering someone a whole lot greater than himself.

Daniel encounters God in Daniel 10:5-12.  Daniel had just received a vision from God pertaining to the "end times."  He was fasting, praying and had anointed himself when a man dressed in linen and whose loins were girded with the finest gold stood before him.  His body was like beryl (like looking into a prism, many facets like a diamond), his face was like lightening, his eyes were two fiery lamps, His arms and feet were like polished brass and His voice, like the voice of a great crowd.  There were people around Daniel who were so shaken they ran and hid.  Daniel says that his strength left him, his good qualities became nothing and he hid his face towards the ground when the 'man' spoke.  The 'man' touched him and spoke soothingly to Daniel and Daniel stood up, trembling and the 'man' says "fear not".

These two Old Testament passages give a clue what happens when we are in the presence of the Lord.  Moses finds himself on holy ground and is afraid to look upon the Lord.  In Daniel, the 'man' was at least an angel of the Lord if not Jesus, HImself.  In verse sixteen Daniel describes Him as one like the Sons of man.

Saul's encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9) a bright light shined about Saul and he fell to the ground as he was astonished and trembling.  and those who were with Saul stood speechless for they heard the voice but saw no one.  Oh, yeah!  And Saul was blinded for three days from this encounter.

And of course, John's encounter in Revelations (1:1-17).  Something happens when we are in the presence of God Almighty.  We ARE humbled greatly.  Moses, Daniel, Saul (Paul) and John all experienced something AWESOME, whether they were 'awake' or in the 'Spirit'.  We are humbled in the presence of God, the Father or Jesus, the Son because their presence, their magnitude is just so much greater than we.

When we worship Father, we express our acceptance and understanding of that greatness and magnitude of His power.  We come to understand exactly who He is, our perspective to Him and our relationship with Him and THEN we can come before Him and worship Him as we should.

The beginning of the bible and the end describe God's parameters - so to speak.  The first four words in the bible, in Genesis 1:1 read "In the beginning God ...".  Genesis 1:2 begins "and the earth was without form and was void ..." Colossians 1:16 tells us "... for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities or powers, all things were created by HIm and for Him (in reference to Jesus, see vs 7 & 13) and verse 17 continues "He is before all things and without Him nothing consists (stands, exists).  Revelation 1:11, one like the Son of man spoke (vs13) and said "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last ..."  And, finally, Colossians 2:9 says "For in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead, bodily (Him, of course is Jesus [2:6])

Our Lord, God, is one God and nothing exists that He hasn't created.  He says "I am Alpha", the beginning, first, nothing before Him and "Omega", the end, the last nothing after Him.  All things exist because He created them, anything we can imagine - and then some.

This alone should be reason enough to worship Him, and Him alone!  When Father tells Moses "I AM" (Exod. 3:14) He means "I AM -everything we need and everything we should desire.  There is nothing that we could truly want outside of Him.  He is 'Jehova Jireh', our provider - of everything that we need (Gen. 22:12-14).  We praise Him and worship Him for all that He is.  It is easy to acknowledge Him 'intellectually', but remember, the devil knows who God is, also.  And he knows better than we do.  Soooo, when we acknowledge God for who He is, we must remember John 4:23-24, "The time is coming and is even now when true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship Him.  God is Spirit and they that worship HIm must worship Him in Spirit and in truth."  That is from our heart, with all our heart.

We just said God is Jehova Jireh, our provider, how has he provided for us?  Consider when God delivered Israel from the hand of the Egyptians (Exod.14 and chapter 15) where the Moses and the children of Israel sang a song to God recounting the victory.  Throughout the Old Testament when God delivered Israel out of the hand of their enemy, they built an altar and sang praises to God recounting His wonderful work of salvation.

Paul and a ship load of people were saved from the tempest called Euroclydon (Acts 27:13-44) off the island, Melita.  Think about what Father has done for us - great or small.  When I was younger it seemed as though I was always robbing Peter to pay Paul bust since retirement and living on a fixed income and I can speak for myself , my needs have always been met.  I thank and praise God for that, always.  A sister in Christ and I were talking recently sharing how Father has 'saved' us from dangerous situations and some of those which could  have had deadly outcomes.  And yes, we gave God the glory for delivering us in those situations.  How often do we stop and reminisce how Father has delivered us from situations, and giving Him the praise and glory?  Even when we have already thanked Him for victory, we can be like the children of Israel and give Him praise and glory, anytime for those victories.  When we offer up those praises, it strengthen us for what may yet lie ahead - because we remember what He has already done and God doesn't operate on a 'one to a customer only' basis (PTL!).

Coming to Him with the right attitude makes a huge difference with Father.   The bible tells us that not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" shall enter into the kingdom  of heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21-23).  Many will say "Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in Your name?  In Your name haven't we cast out devils?  And haven't we done wonderful works in Your name?  And Jesus will profess to them "I never knew you.  Depart from me you who work iniquity."  Jesus was saying that even though they did right things, they did them for the wrong reasons,. with a wrong heart.  Perhaps for man's praise, perhaps to get rich, nonetheless it was to build themselves up.

When we praise and worship Father/Jesus we should remember Psalms 150.  With every thing at our disposal and with all our energy we should magnify the Lord.

Psalms 95 tells us to come before God with an open and pure heart.  Psalms 96 says that we should be bold in sharing our faith with those around us, recite the qualities of God to ourselves and those around us.  To be joyful.

Sharing God with those around us is worshipping Him as Paul did on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-34) by explaining to the Greeks who this "unknown" God is and with those who don't know Him.

We should be like the 24 elders (Rev. 4:10-11) casting their crowns and falling down before Him who lives forever and ever praising Him for His worthiness.

We should be like the angel who proclaimed with a loud voice "Fear (give utmost respect) God, give Him glory for the hour of His judgment is come.  Worship Him who has made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the fountains of water." (Rev.14:7)

We should praise God for His mighty works and His just and true ways, for He is King of the saints (Rev. 15:3)

A right attitude means seeking God's doctrines and not being clouded by the doctrines of man (Col.2:16-23).

For we are risen with Christ, who sits at the right hand of God.  Set our affections on things above and not of the earth for we are dead to the flesh and our lives are hid in Christ (Col. 2:1-4)

We need to seek the kingdom of God first (Matt. 6:33) and do that which edifies and builds up those around us (Ephesians 4:12).

And we need to pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17) and no, this doesn't mean  being on our knees 24/7 (being in that kind of prayer, what good would we be?) but it does mean being in a prayerful attitude in all that we do that is seeking His will in what we do and say and not being afraid or  hesitating to ask His direction when the situation calls for it.

All this being considered, when we have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, He draws us even closer to the Father because He intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered because we don't always know how to pray (Romans 8:26) and when we pray in the Spirit, He edifies us (1 Corinth. 14:4).

All these things help build a right attitude when we worship Father, but don't limit yourselves to these passages, there are many more ways in which we can approach Father and worship Him.  We need to acknowledge Father for who He is, what He has done (for us) and to lift Him up before men. We can demonstrate our willingness to walk in His love be letting that love not only flow into us, but through us and out to those around us. All of this helps us to keep a proper perspective in our relationship with Father so we can be in a 'worshipful' attitude continually.  And when we pray in the Spirit (our spiritual prayer language, tongues) we find that our relationship strengthens as we draw closer to Father through Jesus Christ our Lord because the Holy Ghost is alive and well in our hearts.

As we humble ourselves before Him, we discover that we can praise and worship Him in proper respect and true adoration and gain that closer relationship by praying spirit to Spirit, eliminating unnecessary interference.

Amen.

 8/7/2016   Unity

UNITY

Begins at Home

When we think about unity, we think about 'oneness', like mindedness coming together for a single goal.

The word 'unity' pops up twice in the bible, once in Psalms 133 and the other in Ephesians 4.  The Hebrew word is yachad (3162) which carries the connotation of together, likewise, all at once, unity.  The Greek word is  henotes (1775) with the meanings of oneness, unanimity (looked up this word and Webster's says unanimous), unity.

Webster defines unity as oneness, not divided, harmony, totality of related parts and solidarity, among some other similar meanings.

So we might say that unity is multiple single parts coming together for a single purpose or to function as a single unit.

When we talk about unity we have to start with God.

            Genesis 1:1              In the beginning God … (v1)

  Genesis 1:2              … and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (v2)

  John 1:1-3            In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (v1).  The same was in the beginning with God (v2).  All things were made by Him and there was nothing made that was made without Him (v3).

  Col. 2:9                For in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily.

God is the ultimate of unity so we have to start with Him.  After all, I mean what was before God?  The first four words of the bible are "In the beginning God", a single unit.  Not Tom and Dick and Harry, but but God, one being.  A second part of God is introduced in verse 2 as the Spirit of God moved upon the waters.  In John chapter 1 we see "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was 'with' God and the Word 'was' God",  as a third part of God but Colossians 2:9 brings absolute unity to God in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

As we read the scriptures, we see the Greek word for 'spirit' is pneuma (Strong's 4151) or breath and indicates the spirit of God or the living spirit of man.  In the Old Testament the word used when indicating God's Spirit is ruwach (Strong's 7307) indicating a blast of air, breath.  

So we see that God (The Being) spoke Words (Jesus the Son) and the breath of God (The Holy Ghost) carried those words into action.  

One being but three components, being, force and physical form.

I'm using John 15:1-10 as the Key Scripture for unity.

Jesus explains, in part, how He and the Father are one, in John 15 and then draws the implication that we should be one with the Son as the Son is with the Father.  UNITY!

Our title says that unity begins at home.  If we are to attain unity with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we must first desire, seek and find unity with our heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ because the Holy Ghost is guiding and directing us to do so.

The first four sections give us indication of what we need to understand and do so we can attain a "Closer Walk With God", or that is to come into unity with our creator.

Unity begins at home, that is with the individual (John 15:1-6)

Jesus says that He is the true vine and the Father is the husbandman. 

… He purges the branches that bear fruit so they might bear even more.

            We are clean through the Word Jesus give us

Abide in Me as I abide in you for the branches cannot bear fruit unless they abide in the vine

… you can do nothing without Me

If a man doesn’t abide in Me he is cast out and burned

We need to realize that we truly can do nothing without Him (He is our strength) and yet we can do all things through Him (ask and you shall receive [Matt. 7:7] and I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me [Phil. 4:13]).  Grabbing hold to this concept is the beginning of understanding our unity with God.

We need to do the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21-25)

Not everyone who says to Me “Lord, Lord” shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of My Father which is in heaven.

And many will say “In Your name haven’t we prophesied in your name, cast out devils and did many wonderful works?”

But I will profess to them “I never knew you.  Depart from Me, you who work iniquity.”

I will liken the man who hears My saying to a man who builds his house upon a rock … and the house will stand against adversity because it is built upon a (the) Rock.

James 2:17-20 tells us that faith without works is dead, but as we see in Matthew seven, works without faith is also dead (useless). We need to be sincere about what we're doing because many will say they do things in Jesus' name, but like with the scribes and Pharisees, they never really took the time to get to know Him (Jesus) so all that they do is go through the motions  We need to desire to please God and pleasing God means doing the works of His kingdom.  Unity with God produces kingdom existence.

We have to solidify our walk with Christ Jesus in order to have unity with anyone else (John 15:7-13)

            If you abide in Me and My Words abide in you, ask what you will and it shall be done

            My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit and so shall you be My disciples

            As the Father has love Me, I have loved you.  Continue in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love even as I have kept the Father’s commandments and abided in His love.

I have told you these things so that My joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full

My commandment is that you love one another as I have loved you

There is no greater love that a man can express, that that he lay his life down for his friends.

Jesus defines what it takes to be His disciple and how that equates to unity with Him. (be bold, read all of chapter 15 and don't just 'skim' it.  Read it!)  Once we have come to unity i Jesus, the door is open to come into unity with those around us.

We strive to become a friend of Jesus (John 15:14-18)
             You are My friends when you do what I command you
             I don't call you servants, a servant doesn't know what his Lord does
             but I call you friends 
             because I've shown you everything that I've heard from My Father 

We tell our 'best friend' everything that goes on in our life. We hold little, if anything back.
But, those who are just casual acquaintances we share only what we want them to know and at that only 'surface' information. We don't 'bare' our souls to them as we would our best friend. When we become best friends with Jesus, we develop a unity, a bond, that cannot be broken. This all becomes a two way street. We keep his commandment (to love) and indeed we learn to love Him. As we learn to love Him, we desire to keep His commandment. That my brothers and sisters is UNITY.

Now we need to learn how to translate all this to those around us remembering that as we do to those in the body we do to who?  Jesus!  (Matt. 25:32-40 - because you've done it to the least ... ykou've done it to Me)

We band together with those who are like-minded for there is no fellowship between light and darkness (2 Corinth. 6:14-18)

How do we develop unity with others?

            Hebrews 10:25            Don’t forsake the assembling of ourselves together

                                                  If we don't come together (gather) how can we develop unity when no                                                   one else is around us?

John 15:14-27              You are My friends so I share all that I have with you … (v14,15)  … love one another (v17) … remember what I’ve told you, you are not greater than I … (v20) … I will send the Comforter (HG) … (v26) and you shall also bear witness because you have been with Me from the beginning (v27).

How can we develop unity if we have no friends?  We develop friendships as we share ourselves with others and the Holy Ghost will help us to do that.

Romans 14:17-19        Kingdom of God … righteousness, joy & peace in HG (v17).  Doing so is acceptable to God and approved of men (v18).  Follow things that make peace so we can edify one another (v19).
                                    As we follow the lifestyle Father intends for us and become peacemakers (Blessed are the peacemakers Matt. 5:9) we attain favor with God and God will give us favor with man which will lead to having friends which will lead to unity.

1 Thess. 5:8-24           Be sober, put on breastplate of faith & love and as a helmet hope in salvation (v8).  Christ is our salvation, live together with Him (v9,10).  Comfort and edify one another (v11),

Be aware of those who work among and have charge over us v12),

 esteem them in love and be at peace among yourselves (v13),

 Correct those who need help, support the weak and be patient towards all (v14),

Do that which is good to each other and everyone (v15),

Rejoice evermore (v16)

Pray without ceasing (v17)

Give thanks in all things (v18)

Don’t quench the Spirit (v19)

Don’t despise prophesying (v20)

Prove all things, hanging on to that which is good (v21)

Abstain from the appearance of evil (v22)

May the God of peace sanctify us wholly, and keep our spirit, soul and body blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (v23)

He who calls you is faithful and He will do it (v24) 

Read this list and read again, and again until it starts to sink in then add Gal. 5:22-24 for the fruit of the Spirit plus verses 25 & 26.  The list here is allowing the Holy Ghost to operate in us and through us and is an expression of the fruit of the Spirit being alive and well within us.  When these elements operate in our lives, and those with whom we associate with, we develop unity because we find that we are likeminded. 

Rev. 12:10-11     
And I hear aloud voice from heaven proclaim ‘Now has strength, Salvation,the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ is come for the one who accused of brothers day and night before God is cast down (v10)

And they (believers) overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and that they didn’t love their lives, even unto death (v11)

The enemy spends his time accusing us but we have overcome all things of the enemy through the blood of Jesus Christ so we are able to apply all those things written in this list. Do some research for there is more in scripture which reveals how we should live which solidifies unity with our Lord and our brothers and sisters.

But we first have to come into unity with the Father through the Son then the Holy Ghost helps us develop unity in the body (especially of Christ).

Father wants us to walk in unity with Him and our brothers and sisters in Chris Jesus so we can be "ONE" with them as Father and Son already are one.

And one means unity.

In Jesus name, amen (let it be so)