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The Kingdom Come

The Kingdom Come

You are profoundly loved by God. You are cherished by Him, for you are His creation. He desires for you to know Him, intimately. He is waiting for you to daily come to Him in truth and spirit, which is a teachable heart to know Him as He is beyond the worldly and religious images and for your spirit to be deeply acquainted with His. No person can give you God. You have to find that unity with Him yourself.

Kingdom Being Established

God has been largely misrepresented and misunderstood in this world of lies, but the time is upon us that all will know Him as He is for His Kingdom of Righteous is being established upon this earth. His Kingdom is of righteous love. All who are a part of it are a part of God thus governed by Him and living in and by His righteous love. Where there is righteousness there is no sin, thus no death, thus eternal life. Life is at the door, now is the time to open it. Revelation 3:20 Now is the time for the power of Christ to be revealed in this earth.

When you come to God and begin to learn of Him from Him, you will learn of His love for you. He gives you the desire and power to walk in His ways of righteousness for that is what it means to be a part of Him.  As you spend time each day as you would with a friend over a cup of coffee, your life will begin to manifest His presence. It’s not about religion or religious activities. Knowing God is abiding in your life as you are uniquely created grounded in rest, peace, joy, contentment and righteous love.

Hope Fulfilled

Up to this point in time, people have lived with the hope of this life in the Kingdom of God. The hope in itself is powerful, one to change lives and two because of the Holy Spirit given as a guarantee of the time to come. 2 Corinthians 5:4-5 BUT NOW as God’s power flows to set up His Kingdom in this earth, there will be a significant transformation in people as they are consumed with His righteous love, rest and peace. The transformation comes by grace as we seek His face. God’s grace is being poured out, step into that grace and you will step into His power leading to a new life in His Kingdom.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Evidence of the Kingdom: Rest

The evidence of God’s Kingdom manifesting on in this earth is a Holy Sabbath reigning in people’s lives. The Sabbath is a place of eternal rest inside and out because God is living through you. It’s being at rest from all your own efforts (no self-will) as God’s power governs each step. Hebrews 4:10 In rest, you trust in His love in every situation, thus are without fear. 1 John 4:18 In rest, peace is ruling in your heart, because where there is nothing that causes angst there is peace. Colossians 3:15 In rest, His power is manifested. This depth of rest is evidence of His Kingdom; a Kingdom that starts as a mustard seed in this earth and in your heart. Matthew 13: 31-32 The transformation will be a testimony that you are in truth and will compel others to step into God’s grace as well.

As you abide with God, the gospel (truth) of peace will be established within you by His hand. Hebrews 8:10-11 He will write His truths upon your heart, truths about how to live this life that will manifest His presence and thus all that you deeply desire. For it’s God’s will to give you the desires of your heart; desires void of corruption. As this gospel of peace is established in the souls of mankind, His Kingdom will spread to fill this earth purging the darkness of sin and the death it creates.

Luke 12:32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Conquering of Death

The world consists of truth and lies. Truth is the thoughts, actions and ways that bring all that is of life (love, joy, peace, rest, satisfaction). Lies are the thoughts, actions and ways that bring all that is of death (pain, suffering, stress, fear, angst, death). At the breath of His mouth, God will set up His Kingdom. Isaiah 11:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:8 His Word of truth will take root in the hearts of mankind as never before, as now is the time for His Kingdom to become a reality and no longer just a hope. As truth starts to spring forth from the fountain of life, it will defeat the lies thus the consequences of them; error/sin leading to death.

Death has been conquered; thus the Father of lies, the source of lies, has been conquered. John 8:44 Now we will see the manifestation of that victory.  As a result, wicked works will be destroyed. Wickedness and evil will implode upon themselves and righteousness will conquer and reign. Proverbs 12:7 Through it all, God’s grace and mercy will abound.

God’s power makes streams in the desert and makes the wilderness bloom. This Kingdom will be established by His power not ours. It will be established by us abiding in rest and God flowing through us. Though some will cling to their ways, the growing rest in the lives of others and the growing angst in their own as the sin implodes upon itself, will lead them to the point of turning to God. 1 Corinthians 3:13 When you see Him (peace, rest, joy, love), it becomes much easier to believe. But blessed are those who believe when they didn’t see. John 20:29

Step into the Kingdom by plugging into the source of life. The gates have been opened for God’s living waters to flood this earth, and they are flowing your way.


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A Slave or A Child

A Slave or A Child

 

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Free will – freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention

What is it to be free? What kind of freedom do you really want?

Every belief, thought, decision and action we take is influenced by many sources; our experiences, past, lies, truth, friends, culture, traditions, manipulation, media, family, teachers, knowledge or lack of. Making a free will decision isn’t realistic, many things influence us. When you boil it down, what influences us are either based on lies or the truth. Lies and truth make up our beliefs. And, we are governed by our beliefs, meaning we serve them. In other words, we are a slave to them. Thus we are either a slave to lies or to truth. Though the word “slave” has negative connotations, being a slave to what is truly good is a good thing.

In this life we have two options; we can serve the truth, God, or we can serve lies, anything that opposes God’s ways. We can be a slave to righteousness or a slave to unrighteousness/sin. This is the only real choice we have.

1 John 5:9 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

Which will you serve?

The answer seems straight forward … truth. But it’s not that easy because the very nature of a lie is that you think it’s truth. If you believe it’s truth, you don’t question it, but continue to act according to it until it’s revealed for what it is. When we live according to lies, our lives produce what we don’t desire; sickness, poverty, lack, suffering, pain, anger, bitterness, envy, oppression, hardship, and afflictions.  Aren’t these elements of death what we really want to be free from?

Slave to Righteousness

Romans 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

If you chose truth, then you will seek truth from the one who is truth, God. Only in seeking truth are the lies revealed for what they are. By seeking God, we see the lies for what they are and chose to believe His ways, which we learn are of peace, joy, fulfillment and love. In chosing His ways and will, we chose to believe in His words over another’s in every situation and our actions follow. James 2:20 In choosing God, we give up our ways and the ways of the world, and embrace His full governance over our lives as He deems good, because we’ve learned only He is truly good.

Because of God’s love for us, though we are heeding all His ways and thus a slave to righteousness for He is righteous, abiding in His truth is more of being a child than a slave.

God is perfect in righteous love. Therefore everything He does is for our very best and will truly satisfy us. God is the perfect Father; as it’s His will to provide, protect, care, help, nurture, comfort, lead, guide and love us. Luke 12:32 Imagine being under the care of the perfect father who had every resource at His finger tips? Being a recipient of this love is what it is to be God’s child.

As His child, you are not only governed by His perfect righteous love, but you are a part of Him. Therefore, your desires become His desires. Thus, He gives you the desires of your heart because they are His for you as well. Psalm 37:4 Like a child, 1. you abide in complete rest as God cares for all that concerns you and 2. you follow your desires. To abide in rest and live by your desires is what it means to be a slave to righteousness. Incredible truths.

The core lie that keeps people from seeking truth from God is that He’ll make our lives less somehow. That we’ll miss out. That He’ll leave us and we’ll be worse off than before. But these are all lies that keep us from obtaining the abundant peaceful and restful lives we desire.

In this choice, we are far more than a slave, because we become a part of God. (Led By Spirit of God)

Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Slave to Unrighteousness

Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

In not choosing God, so we don’t seek Truth from God, we default to being a slave to unrighteousness and the elements of death, for God is life and anything counter is death. We become slaves to lies by believing them to be truth. By believing and thus acting on those lies, we manifest a life of things we don’t want; pain, suffering, fear, hardships and so on.  We may “conquer” one issue, but the underlining belief hasn’t changed so it’s redirected and manifests in another way. We are left feeling trapped, overwhelmed, discouraged, oppressed, discontented, and wanting more.

When we serve unrighteousness, our decisions are based on the world’s messaging. We’re directed by the conglomeration of external influences, whichever messages are impressed upon us the strongest. Lies are lies. Though they take on many faces the results are the same; a spirit lacking in truth, righteous love and peace. We trust what we know, and we make choices on what we know. There is no free will, just decisions manifesting pain.

Two paths, two very different results … which will you serve?

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


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The Ultimate Choice: Choose Life

The Ultimate Choice: Choose Life

Would you rather be operating by God’s mind or by your own? God is giving you the choice.

The Choice

Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

The pilgrimage through this earth comes down to a singular decision. Will you choose to be TOTALLY governed by God or self? What you choose depends on the life you will have; the first manifests true life and the second death. It’s one or the other because God is life and anything contrary is death. Most people unknowingly choose death because of the lie that has kept people from God; that life fully governed by God is less than what they can give themselves. When in reality, the only things you miss out on are the things of death.

The life we desire; peace, joy, righteous love, truth, rest, contentment, and blessing, comes when our souls are united to God’s Spirit so that His spirit operates our being in every way. This life is manifested when our self-will is literally dead, silenced, and God’s Spirit takes the reigns. Galatians 2:20  

The ultimate blessing is to be completely directed by God so that our every desire, thought and word is of Him, by Him and through Him; a place where we are fully governed by the Spirit of God and nothing of our self-will. Lamentations 3:24 In this state abundant life is manifested in us and in our lives.

Isaiah 58:13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,

The eternal Sabbath is being at complete rest, so that you are totally powered by God’s spirit. When you are governed by Him, you are at rest because it’s all Him and nothing of you. John 15:5  In rest, you do nothing of yourself. You give up all your ways, pleasures and words to God and He drives your life. If you aren’t working, efforting, striving or exerting your will, then His will can prevail. You cultivate no trust or confidence in anything of this flesh existence. The exterior life is nothing but the shell that is powered by God. In this state, you are a complete slave to God and His righteousness and know no other greater delight, for He is life. Acts 17:28

Romans 6:18   And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Imagine if ALL you did was directed by God who knows everything … the outcome and ripple effect of every action?  All you do would be done in truth and righteous love. Imagine how your life would blossom into all it was meant to be. This is what Christ came to create, God’s spirit abiding within souls of mankind, Immanuel.

How to silence your self-will?

What is the path to make this choice; to be completely governed by God?

  1. SEEK God in TRUTH and SPIRIT. You need to know the difference of your self-will and God’s will and the extent of its control in your life. If you don’t seek truth FROM GOD, you can’t make this decision because you don’t have the knowledge of what the decision entails. You can’t choose what you don’t know. How can you know without diligently seeking daily and above all else?

Jeremiah 7:13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer

  1. BUILD a relationship with God so you can TRUST Him. To honestly let go of all, you have to trust God and nothing of yourself. How can you trust without an intimate relationship?
  2. ACT on His instruction specifically to you. As you act according to God’s counsel and witness His faithfulness, you come to a point of forsaking all to be completely governed by Him – then the choice is the result. How can you act if you aren’t listening to Him?

In our limited awareness, we have no idea the outcome of what we do. If we hold onto our own judgments about what is good (essence of religions), we’ll make errors (sin) leading to pain and suffering in our lives and others. No matter how good our intentions, we don’t know the beginning and the end. Thus, anything done of ourselves, no matter if we judge it good or not, is sin. Sin equates to death. Therefore, we need to be at rest and letting God flow through us as He wills which is accomplished by forsaking every aspect of our self-will and letting His will rule. John 5:30

Seeking God and His truth with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, abiding in rest, and experiencing the fruit of His Spirit testify that we have chosen His will over ours; a life we can start experiencing now. When we come to this point, we are ruled by God’s Spirit thus walk in His commandments, because He is living through us and His righteousness taking us over.

More Discussion on this Topic


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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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The Choice

The Choice
Whom Will We Serve

 

2 Chronicles 15:12-13 – and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Some powerful verses, aren’t they?

The Choice

We have a choice to make; a choice between God’s will and our will. Are we going to follow our way and what we think is best or are we going to follow God? Which we choose will determine if we enter into the kingdom of God.

We can only choose if we know what our choice is. Therefore, we have to learn who God TRULY is and who we TRULY are. Only then can we decide. Otherwise we may be choosing ourselves and not realize it or choosing a false image of God, not God.

This choice is the one Adam had to make. He chose himself when he chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He decided he could choose what was right, good and best in his life. Like Adam, we all have this choice to make, our way or God’s. But first we have to see God and see ourselves.

Born into Self-Will (sin)

We are born in this world following our self (sin) – like the fallen Adam. Bound to this self will, we learn to trust our pride, strength, intellect, ideas of what good is, and goodness. Our trust is in us. What we trust is our idol/god. We experience life with us at the helm. We see what it manifests. We have no idea that there is another option because it is all we know. We are blinded to God’s way. We haven’t learned of it therefore can’t chose Him or walk in it. We will do what we know. What we know we trust.

Then something in our spirit awakens. We become aware that there is another way; to trust God instead of us. This first awakening is what people acknowledge with the “sinner’s prayer” – it’s simply awareness. This awareness plays out in four ways as in the parable of the sower of the field. Matthew 13 Only the seed, the Word, that falls on good soil continues on and prospers. Good soil is the soul nourished with the spirit and truth. Though many have awareness only a fraction choose God.

Seeking God to Choose Him

Until we seek God grounded in the Bible with the instruction of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have the information to make the choice of truly denying ourselves to follow God. John 6:45 One, we aren’t fully aware of the self that is contrary to God (sin is a symptom of self, it’s self, the source, we are to repent, turn from) second we don’t know God deeply enough to trust Him with our lives. How do you really trust what you don’t know?

At this awakening, we can choose to pursue God or not. Pursuing God means seeking Him with all our hearts to know Him deeply and personally. It isn’t easy. It takes commitment to diligently seek. We need to get to know God amidst all the deception that fills our lives, which keeps us from this very act. Lies like you don’t need to seek, you don’t need to read the Bible, you just need to do be a good person, and you are too busy. There are many counterfeit substitutes within spirituality to keep us from digging deeper so we can truly make a choice for God and believe.

If you believe there is gold in your backyard what will you do? Go dig. If you believe God is your God what will you do? Go dig. If you believe only God is righteous and you aren’t therefore you don’t know what is truly good, then you will seek God and His ways and truth because you are clueless. You’ll desire to draw near and know Him. Faith without works is dead. Faith is believing and trusting in God and His ways. You can’t follow what you don’t know. To truly know God as He is and not some image concocted by you or this world, you have to get to intimately know Him. You have to get to know God and His ways in order to follow them. You don’t choose what you don’t know and trust. Believe is a loaded word.

This need to seek is why the path is narrow to life and few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 It takes commitment and diligence in seeking God. This is why many are called few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 Of the called, few choose to seek out God and get to know Him as He is. For those who truly seek God, they are able to choose between themselves and God because they understand what the choice entails.

Christian Image – False Security

One of the greatest distractions from seeking is buying into the image of a follower of God. Once you think you’ve found, you stop seeking.

This “image of a Christian” keeps people from seeking. (One who lives the manufactured Christian lifestyle) This manufactured image misleads people into thinking they made a choice when they haven’t. This “image” has a fundamental trait – no real necessity to seek God to get to know Him. It deludes people into thinking they have God when they don’t because outwardly they’ve changed their actions. They have only heard the call but they haven’t sought to really be able to make the choice. They are still following self.

In Matthew 7:22-23, people were doing great acts in God’s name. But they were doing what they thought best, thus living by their righteousness and not God’s. They never spent time to really get to know God. They lived the image of a Christian but were far from truly being a Christian.

This is why God says to seek Him. Amos 5:4 In seeking, you get to see who He truly is and who you truly are. In that awareness, you are able to choose between Him and you. Choosing Him is believing in Him. Believing means He is Lord in word and action. This is true faith.


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Perspective Adjustments

Perspective Adjustments

 

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

This past week God adjusted my perspective in two significant ways.

Years ago, God opened my eyes to the powerful truth of Matthew 6:33. If I simply focused on seeking Him and His righteousness, then He would take care of the rest. I lived by this truth and put all aside and sought Him. The freedom was remarkable, and He did take care of everything else. My focus would wane here and there, but for the most part it was on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.

But lately my perspective started to alter and stay in that altered state. As God exposed my heart this past week, it unveiled the two areas that had slipped to the top of my seeking heart instead of His kingdom and His righteousness.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

First, I started putting seeking my life purpose above seeking His kingdom (His presence) in my life. I was getting too wrapped up and anxious about the next steps. God reminded me that seeking Him comes first, then all else follows. When we seek Him, we are able to trust Him with the rest. We are able to let go and know He is leading and guiding us in the perfect way right now.

When we seek God’s kingdom, our focus is on His love among His other characteristics. We can let go and trust God with areas of our lives, like our life purpose, when we trust in His love toward us. If we deeply believe in His love, then we would never worry or be anxious for anything. We would pray and trust all to His care. We would let go of all concern, trust He is working it out in our lives, and fall into His arms, free without holding onto anything.

However, when we doubt His love, we hold onto our ways and expectations of how our life should be playing out. We get nervous, anxious, and doubt He is in the midst of our situation. We question if He is helping us or wants to. We aren’t able to trust in His ways, which are very different from our own. We aren’t able to fully trust He will fulfill our desires like living a purposeful and meaningful life, good health, fulfilling relationships, emotional deliverance, and provision. Therefore, we try to take control, push forward and hold onto our methods and ideas because we think life isn’t playing out as it should if He was helping us. We intervene trying to make our life fit how we think it should be moving forward.

God reminded me that all is secondary to seeking His Kingdom. If we seek Him then the rest follows as it should. When we seek His kingdom, our focus is on Him and all that He is.

Joel 2:13b And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful , slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

This morning God impressed this verse upon me. Do I really trust in His great kindness, mercy, grace, and patience in my life? If I do, why am I worried or anxious about anything? When we seek and focus on God, our trust grows in His immense love and we are able to let go of what we are holding onto other than Him because we know He has us in His protective embrace.

God tells us He is a good Father and knows our needs and will provide for them. We are to put everything in His trust and focus on seeking a deep relationship with Him. Matthew 6:24-32, Matthew 7:11

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Second, in seeking for healing in a particular area, my focus moved from being on God’s righteousness to my own. My obedience was about my righteousness, not love. My healing was about my righteousness, not His love. If I obeyed God near perfectly in a particular area, then I’ll be healed – was what I thought. By focusing on my obedience as the solution to being healed, my thoughts were about my righteousness not His.

Now, sin can be connected to health issues. Sin corrupts, destroys, decays. And when we are walking in sin then our bodies can suffer for it. Sometimes we suffer in our bodies to draw attention to a sin we are living in that we need to repent of and seek deliverance from. Sin hurts us and others. God doesn’t want us living in it blindly as we sometimes do. Physical aliments can be a way to get our attention that something is amiss in our spirit. However, healing comes from the acceptance of God’s love and mercy toward us, nothing that we do. We trust in His mercy alone, in Christ’s righteousness that covers us for healing. When it was about me walking in “perfect” obedience for healing, it became about my righteousness. God doesn’t want us to be slaves of righteousness, but sons of righteousness – (meaning we are righteous because we are born of Him)

God also reminded me that all I do is to be driven by love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 We are to be obedient to His Word, but the motive of the heart is love nothing else – like punishment and reward. I needed to let go of the punishment and reward focus in this area and let my attention rest on letting His love flow through me for what He was asking me to do. Obedience is about love. John 14:23 We do what we do because we love God.

Instead of trusting in my obedience (my righteousness) for healing, I needed trust in Christ’s righteousness, and then walk according to His ways out of love not punishment and reward.

With these two adjustments of focusing on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, incredible burdens were lifted. I had no idea now much I was carrying. I’m so thankful for the Spirit’s instruction in these areas – truly an incredible week.

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Sowing & Reaping or Mercy

Sowing and Reaping

or Mercy

There is an interesting interplay between reaping what you sow and mercy in the life of a follower of Christ that I’ve been thinking about this week . . . here are some of my thoughts.

Reaping what you sow (often called karma in the secular world) is about cause and effect. Mercy counteracts reaping in not getting the negative consequences for what we sow.

In Christ Jesus, our foundation is in mercy, not karma. (One note, mercy is a part of karma, if we give mercy we receive mercy, however God gives us mercy unwarranted by our actions. So for this post I’m integrating the dynamic of mercy into the cause and effect playing field.) When we are in Christ Jesus, we are righteous in the eyes of God as all that Christ is covers us. God’s love toward His children is what it is because of Christ not because of anything we earn. We don’t and can’t earn His love and righteousness. We don’t deserve it but we have it in Christ – it isn’t about karma but mercy. God’s mercy is ours because we are His. His mercy can’t be dependent on us. We have nothing to offer. Our insufficiency is why we need it in the first place. His mercy is His never ending gift to His children that flows into every area of our lives.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Deuteronomy 6:10-11 So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant–when you have eaten and are full–

However on another level as God’s children we live with Him in truth or against Him. We seek His face and draw near or not, and our choice will have a tremendous impact in our lives. It is the difference between thriving in the Kingdom of God and wallowing in a mud hole at the Kingdom’s gate. And it is this area that we play a part in reaping what we sow. If we don’t nurture and take time to foster a relationship with God then our lives will reflect that. We will lack depth in experiencing His mercy, love, provision, protection, comfort, joy, peace, and power because we are trusting someone other than Him – because we are following our will not His. Psalm 40:4 When we walk outside His will, then we will suffer the consequences even though we still experience much of His mercy.

We reap in mercy. The way we reap what is truly good is by cultivating a relationship with God that is covered in mercy and not by trying to simply be good.

Our sowing should be focused on cultivating a relationship with God because that is the source of everything in our lives. Generally when we hear about having good karma in the world’s definition of it, it means actively choosing to act good so that goodness will come back to us. In my opinion, the focus of the idea of karma is off in that it focuses on being good to get goodness. No one is good but God. The only goodness comes from Him. When we focus on cultivating a relationship with God, the result is the fruit of His goodness in our lives. Life and all that is truly good comes from being surrendered to God’s will. And surrendering to His will occurs as we seek His face with all our heart, soul and mind. There are many opinions about what good is and isn’t and only true good comes from God. Therefore only by being deeply connected to God can we experience it in our lives. All other “goodness” is a copycat that leads us down the wrong path.

To try on our own to live a good life outside of God only creates death. Often society labels things good that aren’t, and the lies destroy many people’s lives. Only in God is there life; for He is life. When we sow a relationship with Him and nourish our spirit born of Him, then our lives start to become consumed with His presence – all that is good and of abundant life. In Him, God leads us to live according to His will. If we follow His lead and heed His instruction, then we will reap the fruit of it, but it is Him in us, not us.

Living as a follower of Christ is about cultivating a relationship with God so that we live according to His love moving through us. Every command of God comes down to love – true love. When we are abiding in Him, we want to do His will because we love Him, not because we “should” do this or that. Our part is to trust God’s power working in and through us. And that trust comes from stirring the deep or cultivating a deep and real relationship with God. He doesn’t ask us to be super Christians, but to excel at depending on Him and His mercy. We are nothing apart from Him. We will never obtain His promises of abundant life if we are trying to gain them in our strength by simply being good. That is a lie that has lead many astray. Striving results in a lack of fulfillment of His promises because we are trusting in our strength instead of His loving kindness and work in us. Ephesians 2:10 Our part of sowing well is to take time to develop a relationship with Him and He does the rest through us and what we reap we reap in mercy.

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness (life in Christ); Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.

Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

Philippians 1:11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

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