12/31/24 A STRONG, SURRENDERED, SANCTIFIED, SPIRIT IS HOLY SPIRIT CONTROLLED

12/31/24 A STRONG, SURRENDERED, SANCTIFIED, SPIRIT IS HOLY SPIRIT CONTROLLED

The human will is a gift of God. The misuse of the will can be an abomination and a blasphemy.

A strong will is not a bad thing. In fact, a strong will is a good thing.

The real problem is a self will, a carnal will. This results in an uncontrolled self and an undisciplined life.

Christians should have a strong will, which is surrendered to Christ. When we have a surrendered will we will have a sanctified (purified) will, we will have a Spirit controlled will. Self control is the fruit of the Spirit.

Christians need to live the surrendered life; not the crucified life. We must be crucified with Christ, dead to the world, the flesh and the devil. Crucifixion is part of the purifying work of God in us. After our death to self, we are able to walk, abide, live in consistent holiness and victor because we will be living in the power of the Holy Spirit.

12/31/24 GUARD THE GATES

12/31/24 GUARD THE GATES

I have been thinking about the importance of guarding the GATES to our inner man. (Remember the gates in Bunyan's "Holy War.")

I hope to come back to this as we begin 2025, but in the meantime, let me just mention two of these gates today: Ear-Gate and Mouth-Gate.

We need to guard our hearing. Sometimes it is a matter of filtering what we hear. 

We need to guard our speaking.

Suffice it to say, we need to put a guard concerning the things we hear and the things we say. Guard yourself from the thoughts that come through the ear and the thoughts that are expressed through the mouth.

We must speak truth and we must speak it in love. We shouldn't speak something just because we think it. We should not lie, we should not gossip, we should not speak perverse things, we should not utter curses, we should not cause division with our words. There are many things we should keep our mouths from speaking.

On the other hand, there are a great number of things we can and we should do with our speaking. We should encourage, we should inform, we should evangelize, we should comfort, we should build up, we should praise, we should confess, we should worship.

Psalms 19:14
14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

Psalms 141:3-4
3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

12/31/24 GUARD YOUR EAR-GATE

12/31/24 GUARD YOUR EAR-GATE

Sometimes we are given words of encouragement, but at the time the words seem to be words of discouragement, even when the words are right and even when the delivery was right.

Decide that you are going to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Filter what you hear through love and faith. This could save you a lot of grief and disappointment.

2 Corinthians 10:5
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

12/30/24 IS YOUR DELIGHT IN THE LORD?

12/30/24 IS YOUR DELIGHT IN THE LORD?

A little over a year ago I pointed out that OBEDIENCE BRINGS JOY, based on verses which refer to the believer delighting in the law of of the Lord.

Last week I addressed the blessing that comes with meditation, which included verses referring to delighting in God's word.

I am re-posting last year's post, but I am adding some other verses related to delighting in the Lord. The added verses will have 3 asterisks before the ***reference.

12/08/23 OBEDIENCE, NOT DISOBEDIENCE, BRINGS JOY
(I have edited some statements to make them easier to understand. These edits do not change my premise).

Sometimes we do things we want to do and sometimes we do things we ought to do. Being a Christian means doing things we ought to do and we also want to do, because as Christians (Biblical, Spirit filled, Christ following Christians) we delight to do His will.

There are dark times, trying times, difficult times, even for Christians. There are battles, there are losses, there are heartaches, but those negatives do not come as chastisements or curses from being obedient to God, though testing, which proves and improves our spiritual condition may come, as with Job. Jesus did not seek to escape the cross (contrary to the popular lie told these days). It was not the Father's will that was negative to Jesus. He despised the shame, but embraced the cross, because it was the will of the Father.

There are things we must do in obedience to God that are not fun things, things that often come with great sorrow, but it is not obedience to God that causes our loss or our sorrow. Sorrow and loss can come to us because of someone else's disobedience). It is the testing (proving and improving our l walk with Christ), and the disobedience of other people, which takes us through that valley or that slough or that desert or that wasteland.

As I said, it is not obedience to God that brings us misery. On the contrary, it is disobedience that brings misery, but obedience brings joy, even when we pass through the trial.

Psalms 1:1-2
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Psalms 37:3-8
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

*** Psalms 37:11
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

*** Psalms 37:23
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

Psalms 40:8
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Psalms 94:17-19
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.

Psalms 112:1
1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

Psalms 119:16
16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

Psalms 119:24
24 Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

Psalms 119:33-35
33 HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.

Psalms 119:47-48
47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

Psalms 119:68-72
68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
70 Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
72 The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

Psalms 119:77
77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

*** Psalms 119:92
92 Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

*** Psalms 119:142-143
142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.

Psalms 119:174
174 I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

*** Romans 7:22
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

12/30/24 REPOST WITH NEW INTRO

12/30/24 RE-POST WITH NEW INTRO

This is basically a re-post of an article I wrote in September of this year. I hope you will read it, with your heart open to the real message I am sharing.

It is not simply about holy living. It is about a pure, holy heart, which God provides to believers, as an instantaneous, crises, subsequent work of gracious salvation, available to believers who not only want clean hands but a pure heart, believers who want to love God with their whole being, believers who want to be delivered from the inward pollution and struggle they have with the "law of sin and death" (aka "The Body of this Death"), which Paul referred to in Romans 7, and from which God provided the answer in Christ Jesus and explains in Romans 8.

Remember, God's word says,
James 4:8
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Re-Post
09/23/24 TWO CURIOSITIES...

1 To me, it is a curiosity that some people dedicate themselves to follow Jesus fully, but they verbally deny the Biblical doctrines of heart purity and holy living.

2 To me, it is also a curiosity that other people profess the Biblical doctrines of heart purity and holy living, but they do not produce the Fruit of the Spirit.

In the first case, the person's heart is ahead of his head.
In the second case, the person's head is ahead of his heart.

These two curiosities ought not to be, since there is both sweet and bitter water flowing from the same well. If you are a believer and follower of Christ (saved, born again), examine yourself to make sure that you are not Double Minded; to make sure that you do not have the Old Man; to make sure that you do not have an evil heart of unbelief; to make sure that you are not a carnal Christian; to make sure that you are not walking in the flesh, but make sure you are walking in the Spirit.

The problem with most Christians today (especially in the West) is that they have swallowed the lies of sinning religion from Roman and Reformed theologies (which veered from God's revealed truth), either in precept or in practice, and often it is in precept and practice.

Sinning religion says...
God cannot purify hearts and produce holy living in Christians,
OR,
God will not purify hearts and produce holy living, which is to say that God wills for believers to have impure hearts and live unholy lives.
OR
God does not care if we have pure hearts and live righteously.

Heart purity and holy living are Biblical truths of God's salvation.
God wants us to be holy and to live holy lives;
God provided salvation, which will make His people holy and enable us to live holy lives;
God requires us to be holy and to live holy lives.

So, we either believe and follow the God of salvation or we follow the god of sinning religion.

We ought to believe and follow the God of the Bible in precept and practice.

God's word clearly teaches that salvation delivers believers from all sin in this present evil world (this is Christian perfection, entire sanctification), which is not to be confused with resurrection perfection (glorification).

The overview of a salvation experience is...
As a lost or sinful person, we recognize that condemnation comes because of our sins, and we realize our need to be reconciled to God through Christ's sacrificial death and physical resurrection.
We are justified and regenerated, which is part of believing, repenting, confessing and following Christ.
As an obedient child of God, we recognize our need to be delivered from the sin nature and we make full surrender, trusting God to purify our hearts.
(Remember, sin is both a state of being [sin, or root], and action [sins, fruit]. God has provided forgiveness and deliverance from our sins (what we do, represented by our hands), and sin (what we are, represented by our heart).

Psalms 24:3-5
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
James 4:6-10
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

1 Peter 1:22-23
22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 John 3:3-10
3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

In response to a comment...
It is commendable that you want to please God, but your statement needs to be addressed.

Do you ask God to forgive you of the sins He has already forgiven? I hope not.

Likewise we do not need to continually ask God to purify our hearts of the Adamic nature, once we have been entirely sanctified, as a crisis experience subsequent to our conversion.

ALSO, God does not give us strength, or work with us to rid the "flesh" (not sure what this phrase is supposed to mean). The only thing we can do to be rid of the Adamic nature, which is the flesh (the carnal mind), is to totally surrender, ask, and trust God for total cleansing. It is part of our salvation.

Sadly, few Christians ever hear about this purifying, which takes place when we die to self and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Some people teach that we "die daily," to the sin nature. This is not true. We should die once and then live daily. We fight the good fight, but we do not die continuously. And the, "we," or the "I," that should die is not anything other than the Old Man.

I would guess that you might have questions about what I am saying. I hope I can be of some help.

God says we are to speak the TRUTH in love. There is no real love without real truth and there is no real truth without real love. Love is no excuse for avoiding, ignoring or rejecting truth.

12/30/24 GOD IN US, TO WILL AND TO DO

12/30/24 GOD IN US, TO WILL AND TO DO

God does not tell us to do something, which is impossible for us to do.

If it requires Divine enablement, He provides what we need. God tells us to keep His commandments.

We can obey Him. It is our choice. 

Philippians 2:12-16
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye 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.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

12/30/24 HOW PERVASIVE IS FALSE DOCTRINE?

12/30/24 HOW PERVASIVE IS FALSE DOCTRINE?

It is not unusual for me to be asked a certain question, when I am addressing the errors and lies of false doctrines and false teacher.

The question is, "what Christian teachers (or preachers) do you follow (or agree with)."

This question implies that I don't agree with anyone else, that I think I am the only one who is right.

Of course, it is important to remember, in those conversations I had been addressing false doctrines, which unfortunately are widely taught by some of the most popular "teachers" and "preachers" of the day.

The Bible refutes the "Jesus Only" (oneness, so-called Apostolic) lie.

The Bible refutes polytheism (including the LDS doctrine that "God the Father" was once a man and became a god and that the men who follow Mormon religion will also become gods).

The Bible refutes the denial of Christ's Divinity (as found in the beliefs of the so-called Jehovah's Witnesses).

The Bible refutes the sinlessness of Mary (immaculate conception), the continued sacrificial death of Christ (the Mass), the Pope as head of the Church on earth, beliefs of the Roman Catholic Religion).

The Bible refutes the idea that humans are incapable of freely believing on Christ and turning from sin (total depravity, as taught by many), Jesus died only for the unilaterally and unconditionally elect (unconditional and limited atonement), the idea that sin does not separate from God (once saved always saved). All of these heresies are taught by sinning religion (related to Reformed Theology and Calvinism).

The Bible refutes the idea that a person can be saved, aside from exclusive faith in Jesus (Joel Osteen, among others).

The Bible refutes the idea that Christians are little gods (as taught by some Name-It-Claim-It, or Health and Wealth, or "Prosperity Gospel" false prophets).

As you can see, there are plenty of false doctrines that are popular and there are a great number of false prophets spreading the lies. I have only scratched the surface.

Since I often expose false doctrines, it is understandable that I name the false prophets and false teachers. Sadly, many of the popular teachers are teaching false doctrines.

This does not mean that I think I am the only one with the truth. But the fact is that so many are abandoning the truth of God, and therefore, those who are faithful to the word of God will find themselves in a smaller group and even find themselves being persecuted by the the deceivers and the deceived.

I was witnessing to a lady one day, as we both stood at the buffet in a popular restaurant.
As I was sharing Christ with her, a man interrupted my witnessing and asked, "Do you believe King James?
I answered by saying, "I believe King Jesus."

Here is the problem. People are so caught up in the messengers that they don't even know what the message is anymore.

My message is not, "King James" (as wonderful as it is as a translation). My message is not denominations or theological systems. My message is King Jesus and His word. As a faithful witness I must denounce other, "gospels," other "Jesus'," other "spirits," which makes it look like I am opposed to everyone.

Years ago there were some differences between Christian ministries, but today the differences have totally replaced the truth with a man-made religion. It is too bad that pastors have not held the line on God's truth.

We see how it will be in the days ahead, when Jesus stands outside of the organized church, seeking entrance. Those days are upon us and they are only going to get worse.