No Hand Me Down Religion

Voice of Prayer

There is no hand-me-down religion in Jesus Christ!
Born again, we are born into life, the new in Him who acquired that life by shedding His own blood on the Cross. In salvation, we have all we need. By grace we live by faith in His sacrifice and we should expect heaven on earth!
On the day He went into Jerusalem, He was about doing the Father's will and not about man's will. Those who were expecting the conquering Messiah had hoped it was in Him. Yet He did not go to the throne when all the palm branches were laid before Him. No He went into the temple and drove out the money-changers.

God's way was to be known through Jesus. It is the path that is narrow indeed and it is not putting man on pedestals or of man by firm suggestions that you follow man. For there is heaven on earth, when we call forth His words given to us to speak in the very promises set forth for our freedom.
John 3:5 NKJV Jesus answered, " Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
In the new birth, one repents of sins. The new order of life is begun in Jesus. At that moment faith is alive. In this we re-qualify to the possibilities God has for us. Aside from Him and His will, we never see them. I always wonder how many people that fill the cemeteries today who never received Him as Lord, to have that place in heaven & be where He might be....as He is Lord over all?

In Jesus' time, the Pharisees and Sadducee's handed down a religion that was equipped with all the terms and issues that man himself instituted beyond what God had set up for them in the Wilderness. That Law was to get the wilderness, and the idol worship out of those who came out of Egypt, but Jesus came to set man free forever!
Ephesians 1:11-14 NKJV 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trust in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
God, the Creator and the Possessor of Heaven and Earth, put down a deposit for us. And that deposit required the blood of Christ. The great "I Am" brought a way for us when there was no way. In this salvation we have gained power of the Holy Spirit that demonstrates both in us and through us who believe.

I was thinking of this yesterday, as we went to pick up our dog at the Vet. She required some grooming and had some hot spots on her face and neck. I never knew a dog could have an allergy to protein. Yikes!
Anyway, on the way I saw this store front Maurice's, and I saw people going in to shop which looked like for teens. I remembered the hand-me-downs I sometimes got as a small child. Yet when I went to school, my sister and I had new clothes and shoes to wear. But one time, as a young teen, I had gotten a really nice white sweater with a few roses on it........and I really liked it. It was given by this girl's mother who I went to school with in the junior high years. So I wore it to school and the girl whose mother had given it to me rode rough shod all day on me for wearing her sweater. I am not certain that she really wanted it, but she certainly did not want me wearing it!
I never wore that sweater again, even though I loved the beautiful white with the sprinkle of tiny red roses and green leaves on it. No, never wore that thing again for I was caught in that which is a "hurtful" situation. For the young lady had been my friend for two years and after that we were no longer friends.
But see in this relationship with Jesus, we each have something with Him that is different and the purpose God placed in you is of importance. It is important to find what God placed in you for His glory and to His praise. He is always here and always available. And when someone may not like that which you carry for Him, well, that is sad to say for them.
He did not give you a ready-made religion for a one-size fits all. We each have a part to participate in the greatest time on earth and that is of these years before His return for us. We each have a role in His kingdom and reading through His word and prayer will reveal what that is in each of us and through us. We require His wisdom that is for the practical, and workable principles so the revelation knowledge flows through our lives and toward others.

Ephesians 2:10 reminds us that we are His workmanship! For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Grace was bestowed to us. It is the "undeserved kindness "by which salvation is given. Christ Jesus died for us before we were even born. By the Holy Spirit we see power released in our lives just like Jesus did! Grace is that force as well as favor toward us and it is living for today and a future we look toward that it is our God Who makes all things possible.

No hand-me-down religion, and no hand-me-down clothes please. What God has for you and for me is better, is of quality and will last forever. In this relationship, you and I choose if we want time with Him or not. I choose to know Him more every day. I choose to see His beauty and declare His goodness for in this my faith is released to receive more from Him. Within this relationship too, we come together in unity not in strife fighting one another, not jealous of another, but we come together in the unity of faith & purpose among God's family members for God's gospel to be the most effective.
We are to initially be Christ's mouthpiece, His feet and His hands. If we choose the hand-me down from man you get religion, must submit an allegiance to the man and his regime, but to God we receive that pastor or said church we attend to receive our daily feeding of the word and prayer.

The past is gone and we are new in Jesus! Receive His words deep into your heart and pray for the Holy Spirit to be loosed in every moment of your daily lives and may you see the fruit that comes from obeying the Son to the Father. May you know He will never leave you nor forsake you. Now is the time to rise up, take off those old garments of sin, and lust and receive the garments of the royal Son. May you be found with Him always!

New teaching at: Voice of Prayer  

Land of the Living
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New teaching at: Life Giving Wells

Wheat & Tares-Truth & Compromise

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What About That Manicured Lawn?

Every week we pass by this cemetery on our way to church. And every week I always think how many in that place never fulfilled what God had for them to do in their lifetime. Each week, I view the well manicured lawn of green. Each week, I notice whether new flowers are laid upon those places that holds a name well bound into the engraving on stone. As I view, I think how well the person or persons do their job in maintaining that manicured lawn. No one who is buried there would probably care, but those who have a loved one placed there certainly care about the looks of the place. Yes, we drive by slowly because of the minimum speed at that place in the road, and in almost a slow-motion view, speed picks up after the curve and we are off. Quickly I return to the thoughts of the service at church. My husband and I then pray.

Are our lives depicted about the manicured, the well-dressed, the clean and washed? Certainly hygiene is important. And people will notice if you have or have not showered in the last 24 hours if they happen to be around you for a short period time. Seriously though, are our lives in anyway making a difference to others? Are we an influence or are we so well-kept, no one really knows who we are, that we are the saved ones who follow Jesus? In hearing others speak and especially in restaurants and the such, I find how rare people want to make a statement out loud that they know Jesus.

I remember two friends I had when living further north of here. In that time we spent together, I remember us going out for dinner together. And we always found someone to talk to about Jesus.  We always found at least one couple, usually older than us, who was willing to strike up a conversation with the three unusual ladies. The joy of the Lord always seemed to fill that place once we started the conversation about Jesus.

Luke 12:23
 23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. NKJV

What could we share with someone this week, even at church, that would encourage them? What smile could we give to someone older than ourselves? What word could we share that would bring some ray of light that someone cares to speak?

I saw this man give a salvation message: was quick and to the point! He asked, "what if this was your last time to hear and receive Jesus as your Savior? " And a man gave testimony of when this Rabbi gave the message to have life everlasting. And he said he knew he must go to the altar. He had to run and receive Jesus...........that his time was short in hearing the message. And the man's face beamed with such light. Yes, today I think of those who have laid down back to the dust. Their shell is there in the ground, but their spirit is somewhere. It does not matter about where your shell lies or how well the lawn is fertilized and kept in that beautiful green color. It makes no matter how many fragrant flowers are placed next to that cold stone bearing that name you carried. It might say something about you and it might not. But somewhere your spirit will reside forever. And what will it matter then?

Today we have a voice. Today we are the alive and are to be the "light" to those perishing. Look and see for the harvest is ripe.

John 4:35-38

35 Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' 38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." 

NKJV

There was a song out probably some 18 years ago. It was how people would know us by our love. The love we have and give is the love that is from God and how He gave first.

1 John 4:10-13

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  NKJV

Now that is really living. It is having His love as we abide in Him for we have His Spirit. Today we are not to harden our hearts. Today we are to hear salvation and then give it to others, the message of Jesus, the Atoning Sacrifice.

Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek, inquire for, and require the Lord while He may be found [claiming Him by necessity and by right]; call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundance pardon.

Receiving Jesus, we are reconciled back to God.

Ephesians 2:14-18
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.   NKJV

RELATIONSHIP....RELATIONSHIP.....RELATIONSHIP

Isaiah 57:19   Peace, peace, to him who is far off [both Jew and Gentile] and to him who is near! says the Lord; I create the fruit of the lips, and I will heal him [make his lips blossom anew with speech in thankful praise.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

Yes, Isaiah spoke; "MY God says there is no peace for the wicked."

Wow!
While He is close, while we live we have opportunity to receive the Lord of Glory! While we live, we can receive and give praise to His name. And we receive His peace. WITHOUT Him we have no peace.
Yes, we will spend eternity somewhere, and what covers that grave is really of no importance other than those who are left behind, who grieve for awhile. For missing that loved one is so much a part of living. But our celebrating comes when the one they have loved so dearly is with them in Paradise. When the 'loved one' chooses life in Jesus. Then life really begins. It is not about what we wear, what we drive and what school our children attend. It is not about how many may attend your church. But it is about having a Lord and Savior. It is about Jesus!

Notice:
The Voice of Prayer  has a new teaching published: Rebuilding The Temple of Praise-Prayer

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