1 Peter 4:15-17 But let NONE OF YOUR SUFFER as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
Talking about different types of suffering, and how we don’t need to suffer because of sin. We’ve been given the grace to walk in righteousness, thus life, which we have been given in Christ.
Matthew 22:12-14 So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a WEDDING GARMENT?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but FEW are chosen.”
Recently, I clearly saw the beast in each one of us; the internal beast that Christ came to destroy and put His Spirit of righteous love in its place. It was very powerful, full of lies of destruction, and in a form often undetected for what it truly is, though it abides within us. Christ battle isn’t against us; it’s against this internal beast of wickedness that seeks to destroy us. Understanding the true battle is essential to understanding God’s plan of salvation.
This internal beast is our corrupted controlling self-will influenced by evil. 1 John 5:19 It’s the controlling spirit of our soul, which we are born with, that makes us slaves to sin. Romans 6:16-19 It’s a corrupted operating system governing every thought and action in the ways of death instead of life. This operating system is full of lies, feasts on lies, and serves lies. (Lies that we hold as our truth.) Its outputs are lies; lies about who we are, who God is, what love is, what truth is and on and on. The lies manifest sin, which manifests pain, suffering, and hardship, which leads to death. James 1:14-16 This beastly entity abides in all people, thus why all are dead. 1 Corin 15:22 It’s contrary to God; therefore all it produces are the fruits of death. By giving us His spirit, Christ came to free mankind from this beast that imprisons our souls and makes us corrupted, defiled, vile, and dead. Now is the time for this promise to manifest. 1 Peter 1:5, 9, 13
This internal beast spirit rules us, until it’s put to death and a new governing spirit takes its place. This new spirit is the salvation of Christ given to all. We’ve hoped in this salvation of receiving a new operating system, the mind of Christ crafted in pure truth and righteous love that enables us to be eternal creations with God. That hope is now being realized to those who have been waiting and watching.
Preparation Period: Putting on the Wedding Garments
Now is the time to get dressed. God’s spirit is preparing those who come to Him in truth and spirit by clothing them in garments of pure light/truth/righteousness so they can be married to Christ, which means people are starting to walk in true righteousness by the power of God like never before.
These garments are necessary to 1. Stand in the day of the fiery trial coming upon the whole earth Isaiah 33:14-16 and 2. Come into the wedding feast to be joined with Christ for eternity. Matthew 22:12-14
How? Christ is pouring the eternal life spirit into souls who are ready and willing to receive. John 6:63 This Spirit of wisdom is the mind of Christ and it starts small within us. 1 Corin 1:30, Luke 17:21. If you live in righteousness, you live in eternal life. As we listen and obey His lead, He guides us into the paths of righteousness where there is no death. He leads us to abundant life inside and out. He leads us into the kingdom of heaven here on earth. He leads us to safety and protection in a world whose ways are crumbling and becoming full of depravity, pain and suffering. Our part is to listen and obey His instruction to us, which we can by His power filling us as we heed His word. Ephesians 1:19
Christ the perfect husband washing His Bride in the word. Ephesians 5:26, John 17:17 His Spirit is personally speaking words of life to souls who are listening. He’s teaching, leading and enabling people to abide in paths of righteousness. There is a new power working in the souls of those receiving Him. John 14:23 He is opening their eyes to see their sin and the consequences of it, thus enabling them to chose the way of life. Luke 4:18 As they walk uprightly, everything around them starts to change for life is replacing where death once dwelled. We create our surroundings by our faith. If we are walking in His righteousness, His faith, which is life, then we create life, eternal life, and works without end. These lives will stand victoriously in the judgment coming upon the earth. Transformations into deep joy, abundant rest, blessings and true love are occurring as people walk the paths of holiness by the power of His spirit in them. As a result, they are adorned with garments of holiness and prepared to enter the wedding feast.
To go through this transition, first we have to understand what is currently controlling us. When we see and understand this internal beast in us, then we can die to it, which is abandoning it. It isn’t simply turning from a sin here and here, but the source which sin comes from. It’s knowing the very core of us is corrupt and abandoning our self-will altogether. Romans 7:4 When we no longer listen or follow it, it loses all power. A lie is only powerful if you believe it as truth. Once truth enters in, it becomes nothing. Psalm 91:4
Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
But then what/who are we following? If we truly abandon our self-will, we will embrace the new operating system of the Spirit of Christ. We have to follow something. It starts with small steps of obedience to God’s voice of righteousness within us, and continues until He governs every aspect of our lives. This transition is sowing on the wedding garments. As a result, we are transformed into eternal creations and the world around changes as righteous love flows from us, thus the kingdom of God starts to be established on the earth.
Rejecting Christ’s Spirit
Many will not head this voice, and embrace the cleansing spirit of Christ knocking on the door of their hearts. Revelation 3:20 They will continue to follow the dictates of their own hearts. Jeremiah 16:12 Outside the kingdom of God (not heeding His voice) will be a place without mercy, as mercy is lifted to expose the works of darkness and reveal hearts. Jeremiah 16:5 Those outside will face eternal fire, eternal punishment, everlasting burnings, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and outer darkness … all descriptions of the judgment of God that will destroy the corrupted self-will spirit they refused to give up. It will be a tribulation unlike any other because wickedness and our corrupted self will perish.
All will be seasoned with fire. Mark 9:49 But if we have the garments of righteousness, the fire will not harm us. Instead we will be greatly rewarded and be to the praise, honor and glory of Christ. 1 Peter 1:7 If we don’t then we will suffer great loss, punishment for correction, and judgment by the works of our own doing. 1 Corin 3:15 Now is the time to seek God. To reap mercy and righteousness .. that He may pour His righteousness into us Hosea 10:12-14.
God will not be mocked we will reap what we sow. Sow the wedding garments so you can be married to Christ. Galatians 6:7 He has poured out His grace, that you may walk with Him in righteousness. Abide in this grace. 1 Peter 1:13
Thank Christ for the amazing gift of His spirit which can be united and enter our soul and govern us instead of the beast. This is our salvation, our defense, and our life for it is the spirit of eternal life.
Matthew 13:30 ‘Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
I’ve been talking recently about the importance of listening and following the voice of God. How this is the path of repentance, thus the path of abundance life. In this video, I describe that voice as leading us in righteous love and to be honoring to all; God, others and ourselves.
God is love. God is righteous. He isn’t one or the other. He is both ALL the time; He is righteous love. When you know God, then you know this love and you begin to see it in ALL His ways; and certainly in His plan of salvation for mankind.
The spirit of rebellion in each of us leading to sin thus death first revealed itself in the Garden of Eden. At its appearance, God foretold His salvation. Genesis 3:15 A Seed (Christ) of the woman, would defeat such a spirit forever. God, the perfect Father and Creator, set out to develop His creation into a people who could abide with Him forever in perfect righteous love. He is love and for a true bond of love to exist, love is given and received in its purest truest form. Mark 12:30 He had the love; and His creation would to.
With the choice of following self in the Garden of Eden, mankind showed their weakness; their ability to go against God’s will of perfect love. They demonstrated that without being governed by the Spirit of God from within, they would go their own way forsaking God’s, thus severing the bond of perfect love. When Adam and Eve received as truth the lie based in fear that they were “missing out,” fear and lies were brought into this creation. Genesis 3:1-8 They chose to go against God’s instructions, which kept them in perfect love with God, one another and creation. Now they were no longer governed by pure love, but fear, and not by truth, but lies. Thus sin existed in them and in creation. Adam and Eve didn’t understand the consequences of going their own way for they only knew God’s perfection, until the moment they went astray in their hearts. This was the first time they were exposed to anything related to death and death itself.
Now all of God’s children are born in pain. Genesis 3:16, 3:20 Eve is the mother of all living. And because of sin, her children, us, are born in pain (sin). All have to come through death/sin then into true life. Hebrews 9:27 This journey teaches us the consequences of going our own way, (an understanding Adam and Eve originally didn’t possess) and our need to have the mind of Christ to truly discern between good and evil, right and wrong. Even Christ, as our forerunner, learned obedience (righteousness) through the things He suffered. Hebrews 5:7-8 God took their transgression and thus ours, and used it to teach mankind an very important lesson for life to exist eternally: only God’s will is good, thus we have to be a part of Him. He put creation on a path of salvation in which He would give us His spirit with the mind of Christ so we would always walk in righteous love with Him. 1 Corin 1:30
Challenge: To Really Believe in God
As we saw in the OT, people will not believe in God; that His ways are better, He forgives and He is love. When He laid it all out they wouldn’t follow Him. Isaiah 48:18, Deuteronomy 28 They wouldn’t receive His forgiveness and repent. When their sin manifested terrible consequences, they kept rebelling. When He spoke from heaven, did amazing miracles, and showed His power, they still strayed. Finally in Christ, He showed the depth of His love and forgiveness, people still would not believe so He would be Lord of their lives. (True belief is walking in God’s truths because you know and love Him; not simply acknowledging His existence, who He is or what He does.)
Consider your own life, how often do you look to your understanding instead of following God? No matter what we learn or know, following self is like a cancer we can’t rid ourselves of. We can’t believe God to wholly follow Him. Luke 16:30-31, Romans 7:24-25 (If we truly believed, we would follow wholeheartedly.) As Adam and Eve did, we’ve done the same. The difference in our relationship with God now verses the Old Testament, is that now Christ is preparing His vessels (our souls), which He purchased by His blood, to fill them with His righteous, so we can abide with God forever as eternal creations.
Victory of Christ
Christ did for us what we couldn’t; became our faith. Hebrews 12:2 By His spirit in us, we are able to believe and follow; to possess a spirit having the mind of Christ which is being poured out on all flesh. Ezekiel 39:29, Ezekiel 11:19-20, Hebrews 8:9-11, Acts 2:17 Christ had to die and resurrect to be the seed of life; a seed that once it died could be raised in many. John 12:23-25 He had to die so His spirit could be resurrected in many, because no one would truly believe God or follow Him unless they were a part of Him. 2 Peter 1:4 No one comes to Christ unless God calls Him. John 6:44 No one can come to the Father expect through Christ. John 14:6 It’s all God’s work by His spirit. Something dead can’t bring itself to life. Something unborn can’t birth itself. For us to believe, really believe, we need His spirit and this is what He is giving us in abundance.
Becoming a new creation who can abide with God forever is the purpose and victory of Christ. 1 Corin 15:55 Without God’s spirit living in us in such a fullness as Christ, there will always be sin and death. Ephesians 4:13, 1:10, 3:19 For us to be God’s creation who can abide with Him for eternity, we have to have the mind of Christ and this is exactly what He is giving us in these days, though some are rejecting that voice, wisdom, and good conscience to their own destruction. 1 Timothy 1:19-20
Our sin is harsh; it is death. When we see what it creates in the Old Testament; death, destruction, stoning … it is horrific. Thus, in His love God destroyed it in Christ. He destroyed the seed of death. He destroyed the self-will in all of us through Christ’s death and resurrection. Being birthed in pain, we learn the death nature of self-will. By God’s grace in Christ, the self-will dies and souls are married to Christ and transition into eternal life. Though dead, He resurrects to us to life and starts to mold us into eternal creations.
Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
In this video, I’m talking more about what I’ve been learning in regards to the chastening of God as He is preparing this earth, the souls, to be inhabited by Him for eternity. He speaks to each one of us … we are to listen and follow. As we do He renews, recreates and fills us with His righteous love bringing holiness unto eternal life. Take heed of His voice, listen and follow .. for it will lead you into abundant life NOW.
Talking about how God by pouring Christ’s spirit into us is the perfect salvation plan in a fulfillment of His holiness and love. As we die to self we are able to “marry” another, Christ, so that He governs our soul and not our self-will. God is pouring out His spirit to prepare this earth for His Kingdom of righteousness. Now is the time to be trained up by God in righteousness and love.
Living Light 