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Path of TRUE Salvation

 Path of TRUE Salvation

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your OWN salvation with fear and trembling;

1 Peter 1:15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

Fullness of Salvation

Christ died for all people. 1 Tim 4:10, Romans 5:8 In Christ, all are forgiven and are able to become sons/daughters of God. There is nothing we did to earn this forgiveness. It’s God’s gift to us. Is this salvation?

John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

It’s part of salvation. Salvation in its fullness is our souls redeemed from the kingdom of darkness (lies, sin, pain, suffering, torment, death) and brought into the kingdom of light (truth, love, rest, peace, life). 1 Peter 2:9 We are literally delivered from all that torments us, this is salvation. Imagine abiding in complete rest in your soul; no fear, worry, angst, suffering or stress? Imagine being directed by God’s perfect counsel, will and love in every way? This is salvation, abundant life. John 10:10

Salvation is not simply believing Christ is who He is or what He did. Salvation is becoming a part of Him; a truth has been largely neglected because few intently seek for God, which you would do if you understood this truth.

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble

What is neglected is true repentance. The demons don’t repent. They know who Christ is and even tremble at His presence, yet serve another master.

People remove the concept of true repentance from salvation, as they remove Lord from Christ who is our Lord and Savior. In both cases, they go hand-in-hand and both are required for eternal life.

True Repentance

In many cases, repentance has been taught to be more of an acknowledgement; an acknowledgement that you are a sinner and you know your ways are wrong and you need forgiveness.

This is an aspect of repentance, but repentance is turning from your ways to God’s – doing a 180 degree turn in your life. God calls us to confess sins and forsake them. This means leaving our ways behind and following God in every area. It’s obedience to His Words, His words to you personally for we all lead our own lives with our own issues and problems.

Obedience by God’s Power

But it’s not obedience by our strength. It’s obedience by the power of God in us. Ephesians 1:19 This is the power of Christ.  This isn’t being legalist. Being legalist is trying to follow rules in our own strength or for our own merit, “to be a good person”.  What God is talking about is us walking in His ways by His power because it’s actually Him working through us. It’s His righteousness pouring through our lives. It’s about becoming one with Him.

Seeking, Listening, Obeying

Our part in this journey is hearing and obeying God’s counsel to us. Because, how can we walk in God’s ways if we don’t know them? If we aren’t seeking? If we aren’t listening? We seek, hear, then obey. It’s His abundant grace that enables us to walk as He desires. 2 Corin 9:8 We need to seek His instruction then draw upon His infinite power available to us through grace to do as He asks. In grace, you can do what you could never do on your own, it’s a true power in your life.

Further, on this journey of purification, we can’t follow our perception of what is good or the image of a good person .. that is following our will. God is the potter not us. We are God’s workmanship. Ephesians 2:10 Yet many try in their own way to be a good person. They try to be the image of a Godly person instead of letting God direct that path in a very personal way, purging sin and instilling holiness bit by bit.

We are like broken down house. God starts rebuilding on one part and asks us to walk in that piece so it becomes a part of our life. As we do, He moves onto the next. We’re not transformed all at once. It’s a process of renewal. We grow bit by bit. As we learn a truth, His goodness leads us to repent, then the lie is purged, the truth instated, and it becomes our reality because it is our truth. Then God moves onto the next area. As we do we begin to leave the kingdom of darkness and move into His kingdom of light.

If we are following our will, we will be trying to walk in one way, like not complaining, and fail because God hasn’t worked on that part yet.  In doing what we think is right, we aren’t listening to Him and we don’t have the power to act as we desire. He gives us power to walk as HE builds. Because it’s God working in you, He determines the path in what, when and how. This is another reason why God needs to be the Teacher in our lives. Matthew 23:8. He knows exactly what we need to learn and when and in the process of HIM teaching us, He changes us.

We are forgiven, but now we are to seek God, listen and follow.  This is why it says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

To be continued …


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Defeating Sin

Defeating Sin

1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work on those who believe in God. Ephesians 1:19-20 This power enables us to be sanctified; which is to live in righteousness. It frees us from the sin/death in our lives and brings us into abundant life here on this earth. John 10:10 Sin creates hardships, afflictions, pain, addictions, and suffering in our lives. Many feel bound by sin; even many professing believers. They know they are forgiven, yet still suffer bondages to sin and its consequences. There is a way out, the full gospel.

 Hebrews 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

We are no longer have to be slaves to sin/death; Christ made a way out of this bondage. He is the way, the door, the Word of God. The path out of sin/death in our lives is the narrow path, the path of truth. Its one few find because few truly seek truth from God Himself. Matthew 7:13-14  But for those who do travel the narrow way, they seek God in truth and learn spirit to spirit, He writes His truth on their hearts and it changes them, sanctifies them, He fills them and makes them into new creations. As a new creation, they have a new mind, new desires, new thoughts, and above all desire to be totally governed by God’s Spirit inside-out. 2 Corinthians 5:17 They walk the path of life, thus experience abundant life.

The purpose of going the narrow way of truth is receiving God’s spirit, which is the gift of life, eternal life, and abundant life. When He is directing us, He leads us to the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts as He intended to fill them. We experience joy, peace, rest, blessing, comfort, and righteous love because God’s spirit resides within us manifesting Himself in our lives.

Our part is to seek. Matthew 6:33 The lies and deception of the world has filled our minds, so we must seek for the truth and as we do it sanctifies us. John 17:17

Our part also is to cultivate trust in God above all things. Luke 14:33 We do this by trusting Him to be our Teacher and Counselor. We seek and listen to His instruction, act on it, and witness His faithfulness. In time, as we learn to trust His wisdom and will, we forfeit our self-will in every way and embrace His will. On this journey of the narrow path, we let go of our self-will and desire God’s will as He shows us His righteous love and goodness. Luke 17:33

This narrow path journey has been ignored by many. Ephesians 1:4 The doctrine of grace has been misunderstood. It’s by grace that we are able to live as new creations; a life we must seek and learn from God as how to walk. As we seek, He empowers us to walk it for it’s Him making His home in us. John 14:23 When it is Him working through us, His commands aren’t burdensome, but easy, a delight, and our desire. 1 John 5:3 They are how to live and are life, so we live an abundant life. In grace, we have tremendous power working for us and freeing us from the bondage of every sin. Ephesians 3:20.

1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

Many have been taught that the resurrection of Christ is the end. It’s just the beginning. His resurrection and life and the power it demonstrated are what God pours out on us. It’s the power that moves us from the pit of sin/death and into an abundant life here and now. Yes, it’s a journey, but every seeking step brings us more into life and out of death.  People aren’t living an abundant life because they are living in sin. They believe it is what it is until they die and go to heaven. Conversely, God is offering us His righteousness and His Kingship in our souls if we will seek.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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Words of Life

Words of life

I have many wonderful things to tell you. Some will be sweet to your soul and others stirring to conviction and repentance, but all will feed your soul to bring true life.

The lies and deception run deep through the fabric of our being causing blindness to the truth; to God and who you are in Him as His beloved child. Ears have been muted to the voice of God and tuned in to the voice of death begging for the audience of our every thought.

Yet amidst the darkness a seed of truth is planted, the Word; a flicker of light that for those who seek will lead them to truth. It’s the light that guides seekers along the narrow path of truth drawing them away from this world bound in death to a resurrected life. Matthew 7:13-14 Few find and traverse this path, will you be one?

The path leads to a life beyond your imagination, because all you’ve known prior to this search is death. The difference between life and death on the earth is the difference between living in this life I’m speaking of and the life you live now. Many have been falsely told they are spiritually alive. Yet, until now there’s only been the promise of a resurrected life.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path

God’s love is abundant for His children, yet few have truly sought Him as He is. Most have given up their vast inheritance of true life for a morsel of bread. Genesis 25:30-34 They’ve worshiped what is dead, images masquerading as life. They’ve been captivated by lies which prohibit them from seeing the path of life, thus entering into God’s abundance. But the light is here, in the earth, to be found by you.

There is another way to live in this earthly life that leads you out of the pit of death, hell, and to live a resurrected life; a way that requires you to be a complete slave to God. It requires you to forsake your ways, you desires and pleasures, and your very words; to be replaced by what God has in store for you. Isaiah 58:13. It’s being completely governed by the Spirit of God in every possible way. Galatians 2:20 In this complete abandonment is found power, healing, peace, thanksgiving, rest, bounty, blessing, wisdom, joy, and righteous love. The abandonment comes from knowing God and as you do you are willing to give up all for what you have found, for He is life and the rest a masquerade of death.

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

It’s a path of seeking the truth FROM God through the Bible each morning. Through intimate conversations with God, He reveals in grace the error in your life. In the awareness of the goodness of God, the error is forsaken and you turn to live as God instructs. It’s a path of the true fast that God calls His people to, a fast of the self-will, in exchange for being consumed with His spirit. Isaiah 58. Its end is far better than what we can imagine because our minds have only known death. Ephesians 3:20 God is life. Seek Him and live.

Jeremiah 19:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.


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Spiritual Sabbatical

Spiritual Sabbatical

This week God called me to give it completely to Him, so I’m unplugging from the routine (in case I’m slow on approving and responding to comments). It’s a time of celebration, a feast, of delighting in Him as He transitions/transforms me by His hand.  There is much going on spiritually, I pray you diligently seek Him this week above all else for He has the words of life.

 

Come Walk with Me

Take a break, come walk with Me
To feast from the living tree

Your spirit is ready to bloom
To destroy darkness and doom

It’s been a long journey of strife
Letting go of death and embracing life

Awakening as from a hazy dream
To become for all a gushing stream

All things are formed from a new cast
First fruits of love created to last

Steal away with Me into the stillness
In faith you’ll see manifestation of My fullness

This is My desire, let it be
Have no doubt, come walk with Me

~ Rachel DiPaolo
February 5, 2012


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Importance of Repentance

Importance of Repentance

Repentance is an ongoing back and forth exchange with God. It’s seeking God’s truth, learning from Him, then turning from your way of doing something to His way. It’s the path to abundant life for His ways are wisdom, life, truth, peace, and joy. It’s God’s desire to give us an abundant life, but we have to follow His instruction. So basic yet many don’t follow.

To follow His instruction you first have to be spending time each day learning from Him by the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Then listening to His promptings and instructions in the details of your life. We each have different lives and circumstances, so we have to seek His counsel for the lives He desires us to lead. His ways are not our ways. Repentance is following God in the details of our lives … and those details add up to becoming a new creation and living a blessed life.


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Fellowship: A Spiritual Matter

Fellowship: A Spiritual Matter

 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

Fellowship is a spiritual interaction between two or more souls. It’s connecting with other similar spirits. There is only one of two spirits which we can be; a spirit of God or a spirit not of God, a spirit of truth or a spirit of lies, a spirit of light or a spirit of darkness. Which kingdom we belong to and foster faith in signifies what type of spirit we are, (see post). Because of this polarization, we can only connect with those of the same spirit; a spirit of light can’t connect with a spirit of darkness … And what communion has light with darkness?

Last week I talked about how we engage in “buying and selling” to increase our faith within the two different kingdoms. (see post)

We “buy and sell” with the kings of the kingdoms, but we also trade (A form of “buying and selling” in which two or more have something to offer and exchange; the beliefs they bought) with those who are in the kingdom, another word for trading is fellowshipping.

Matthew 25:16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

We trade (fellowship) with those of the same kingdom as we are. For example, the man who has chosen to “buy and sell” faith from Christ can only trade with others who are “buying and selling” from that same kingdom because God’s truth and wisdom are contrary to the world’s. 1 Corin 3: 19, 2 Corin 1:12 As we commune with others buying from the Holy Spirit and we exchange what we’ve been learning, this exchange affects our faith.

James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

We increase our faith by 1. “buying and selling” with the king of the kingdom and 2. trading (fellowshipping) with others of the same kingdom. Following the example from my previous post, if we are trading with others who believe working 16 hours a day leads to the fulfillment of their desire, then our faith will be strengthened in that worldly belief. If we are trading with others who are following God’s wisdom and enjoying true rest and the power of God working in their lives, our faith in His wisdom will be strengthened.

Matthew 18:20″For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”  (what kingdom you increase faith in is the one you bear the name of)

For fellowship/trading to occur both have to be “buying and selling” individually from the king, because then they have something to exchange and trade. If one is buying from Christ and the other not, no exchange can take place. This disunity is why people can hear the truth from others, and not be changed by it. Someone can hear one speak of the truth, but it falls on deaf ears because they are seeped in “buying and selling” with the kingdom of lies jading what they hear. These people haven’t been buying the gold refined in fire from Christ, the Word of God, but have been “buying and selling” with the kingdom of darkness. It’s one or the other. Each one does their own “buying and selling” from the king, then they can fellowship. If two souls’ kings are different, there is no fellowship, there is no trade.

Matthew 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

We “buy and sell” in every area of our lives. Most everyone is taught to “buy and sell” from the kingdom of darkness from birth.  To move out of the kingdom of darkness, we have to make a choice to start “buying and selling” with the King of  the kingdom of light. John 6:29. As we do, we move away from the kingdom of darkness, its ways and philosophies, until we become aliens in this world, disconnected and consumed with the light of truth. As this happens, our lives start to bear the fruit of kingdom of light; rest, peace, joy, fulfillment, contentment, and love. There is only one kingdom whose ways deliver what it promises, the other is full of lies and manipulation of our hope.

Our faith determines what our lives manifest. Seek to “buy and sell” the truth from the King and fellowship with those who do the same.

 


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Day of the Lord, What to Expect?

Day of the Lord, What to Expect?

In this video I talk about what I feel God has taught me about The Day of the Lord, I go over a chapter in Isaiah and a poem I posted a couple weeks ago. Pray it stimulates some “stirring the deep” for this Day is significant to all of us and is upon us.


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Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words

Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words

Who do you give “authority” to? 

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Above is one of the most popular childhood rhymes that needs a little dissecting, because most of us have been corrupted, damaged, and lived a life of pain because of the words of others, words spoken by those we gave and still give “authority” to.

People speak and act according to how they are not according to the object of their words and actions.  Yet, far too often we’ve internalized the damaging words and actions of others. And God wants to free us.

There are many forms of this truth, but let’s take someone lashing out at another.  When someone delivers a verbal barrage of negativity, it’s about them not the recipient. The problem is most people own other people’s words when it aligns with concepts spoken to them in the past by “authorities”.  When someone lashes out then the recipient thinks something is wrong with them or it’s about them, when the painful delivery has nothing to do with them. How a person acts is all about them; not the recipient. But if their actions and words line up with what an authority figure in their lives spoke, especially a parent or an influential figure of their childhood, they will believe it and internalize the other’s baggage making it a part of who they are.

For example, if someone lost the car keys … I could call them an idiot for being so careless, or not even say a word but in my mind think what an idiot for being so careless. Either way, they would feel the condemnation because people respond to what we give off, not just our words. Matt 5:28 OR I would know we all do forgetful things, help them find the keys, and develop a strategy so they won’t lose them in the future. Consider the impact of the two responses on the recipient. The first would probably make them feel bad about themselves because most people incorrectly own others negative reactions toward them, especially if it was in line with what an authority figure said. The second would be uplifting and helpful.

The greatest impact of this dynamic is with children, which we all were at one point so consider what “baggage” you’ve owned from others. With children, the parents usually have the greatest authority in their lives, what they say the children believe without question and own it as their truth. Whatever they say, the children believe and manifest in their lives. If the parents said they were a loser, then that is how they will grow up unless or until they have a higher authority tell them differently at some point. This is just what children do, they believe their parents.  Children don’t have the experience to realize that how their parents speak to them is about them and not the child. They don’t have a more powerful authority in their lives to tell them otherwise. Calling a child a loser has nothing to do with himself, and everything about the parent, which at one time it had nothing to do with that parent until he heard it from his parents and so on. This is an example of how sin spreads like cancer, because most people own other people’s baggage. 2 Timothy 2:17

You see how lies are passed along. How faulty frameworks about who we are formed. We all grow up with lies by owning others’ baggage. Lies make a train wreck of our lives, but Christ came to rewrite our lives and who we are. He came to show us who we truly are; beautiful, bountiful, blissful, boundless, bold, beloved, and blessed. What we believe we manifest. Many are manifesting the pain of others because they took ownership of their pain by believing their words. Christ came to set us free. John 8:32

As we mature spiritually, we realize that God is our authority, therefore we listen to what He says. When we do listen to Him, our framework changes and we learn that all the negativity spoken to us was about the speaker’s pain and baggage, and had nothing to do with us. If they were different and didn’t have their own bondage they would have never spoken that way to others. This understanding of their bondage is key to forgiveness and love that covers a multitude of sins.

Words are incredibly powerful when they come from someone we’ve given authority to. Who we give authority to dictates our life, because authority manifests belief. What we believe in we create as our reality.  If we give someone authority, then we trust what they say and make their words are truth. Consider the authorities in your life, parents, doctors, PHDs, field experts, spouses, friends, political talking heads, and religious leaders.  What kind of path have they led you on? This isn’t blaming, but taking responsibility for what we hold as truth and who we’ve placed as authorities in our lives who shouldn’t be.

If you still have misplaced authorities, it’s time to dethrone them. Psalm 1:1 THE authority in our lives should be God. Others can confirm what He tells you, but He should be THE authority – because He will speak ONLY truth to you. When He is your authority, you are on the path to tremendous freedom. Freedom from all others’ judgment, opinions, comments, and actions. Thus, freedom from others’ pain and bondage. Freedom from the lies. Freedom to be who you were created to be, someone magnificent because that is the kind of creator God is. Freedom to live a new life and a new reality. We are simply covered in the mud of lies so that is all we can see of ourselves. As mud washes off, God’s truth washes us clean. Putting people as authorities in our lives is putting our lives in the wrong hands. If you truly want to live free, then your authority must be God.

Consider Jesus did anyone alter what He thought and knew about who He was? No. He knew the Truth and His authority was God.

So as long as people are putting others in authority who shouldn’t be the lies spread generation to generation. Misplaced authority manifests false beliefs, and false beliefs manifest a life of suffering and bondage. Our beliefs determine our lives.

Instead of owning the baggage and lies of others, find your identity in Christ and respond with love. In love, tell them it’s not acceptable and look beyond the surface to that bound soul from which came such anger, bitterness, resentment, pain, self-pity, blame, criticalness, and judgment. They need deliverance too. They need love. We all do.