Our Spiritual Biography

Dead to Sin!

Romans 6:8-11 NKJV Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Spiritual biography is that each who receives Jesus is dead to sin. No longer controlled by the love of sin or its ruling power in our lives. It is dead to enslaving us with its power. Each day we have a choice whether to yield to sin, to let it reign in our bodies or stand firm it has no place in us.

Sin has died  because Christ beat death to the finish line. He settled the account. He lives as God and now lives in that new relationship as the Risen One, Resurrected Christ in that new sphere where sin cannot enter!

 According to Romans 6:12-17 is that sin’s dominion has been broken by grace. Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, whether sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

James 3:2 For we all stumble in many things, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

What Jesus finished is that work He accomplished against sin. He did a work of faith. That work was perfect faith. He revealed obedience that demonstrated the reality of His righteousness. If anyone says it is okay to sin, is one tending toward antinomianism. It is contrary to Paul’s whole discussion of sin and to Jesus’ own words about the law we see in Matthew 5:17-20 NKJV 17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.  18 For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the  scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus spoke this of the scribes and the Pharisees as they taught false doctrine. This was the tradition of the elders. They were not only legalistic but also strong in their commitment to the false doctrine. Sadducees were those rejecting the Pharisees. These were those coming from social families and considered rationalists and materialistic. They did not accept the supernatural! So they would not receive Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. And these two groups hated each other.

So, too, you would have many groups with a belief system that has nothing to do with Jesus!

For us Holy Spirit has moved in us. He is there representing the power for holy living. And he is motivated by love for the Savior, not as to a fear of punishment but of God producing holiness. Romans 6:1-2 states plainly that Christians are not to sin, that is, break God's laws. Therefore sin—and thus God's law, which tells us what sin is—must still exist.

It cannot be both ways. If they say that the law is done away, then in the biblical context, it is logical to conclude that there can be no sin. It is therefore illogical for them to claim that it is still wrong for a person to murder or to commit adultery because those sins would not exist without the laws that determine they are immoral or illegal acts. But the true answer lies elsewhere: Their conclusion that the law is done away is wrong!

In Romans 2:1-3 we see this! Romans 2:1-3 NKJV  Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3  And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Oh, how we can see our faults more clearly in other people indeed. Yet for us, we fail to apply them to ourselves. Our own reaction is so often to criticize negatively that we usually do not see that we are guilty of the same things as seen in others. If we find a certain type of behavior especially irritating in others, we may have the same problem!

 To illustrate this blindness to our own sins, recall David's sin, recorded for all the world to see in  2 Samuel 12:1-5, when God sent Nathan to show David his sin with Bathsheba. Nathan told of a case in which a rich man who owned many sheep had stolen a poor man's pet lamb and killed it to eat for dinner. King David was outraged that anyone would be so greedy and selfish, so he pronounced the death penalty on this man. Then Nathan quietly pointed out that David had done the exact same thing when he stole Uriah's wife and sent Uriah to his death.

David was a man who, when he recognized his sin, would deeply repent. So how far his heart fell at that time, we can only imagine. He must have been devastated by his own weakness in sin.

What angers us about others in God's church? Consider this carefully, since in the answer may be a clue to our secret sins. "For you who judge practice the same things."

A friend was over this week. She has had some health issues but we expect her healing. She mentioned a specific thing going out by this gentleman criticizing those of a new program about Jesus. A friend sent it to her to see his complaint and I guess to prove he was right!  We had just started watching the Jesus series this past year and was caught off guard about this guy bashing the new program about Christ. So we listened on her phone that was sent by a friend of hers. We knew this had only two seasons and this man certainly pointed to some things.

But what captured us was that the man relates like the disciples are saved when walking with Jesus. He was not crucified, dead and buried. Jesus and John the Baptist had the Holy Spirit, but the disciples did not. They were being given the word of God, but they stood and walked and slept in their sinful natures till they could repent and receive Jesus as Lord. We must be cautious about people. We must know them where they stand and if they know of the Lord. Because without Jesus, they know not of their sin nor of their sinful natures before Him! Peter knew his sin when we refused to acknowledge that he knew Jesus, not once but three times he said he did not know Him.

Side Effects of the world are seen daily who choose to follow a sinful life, who persist in siding with the flesh and standing tall in culture, but siding with God is love and being full of unspeakable joy with much humility.

2023 is not the year to be deceived by satan. He as light can make you think about the light of God, but he will force one or more of his own designs into the pot and when deceived by them, one can choose to follow him without any arm-twisting. You can see that with the "gentleman" choosing to bash a program of Jesus that is taken word by word of the New Testament. He rallies with his own to bring deceitful ways and acts before you. But 2023 is to be the year for the believer with no side effects, those of the Lord’s way in truth and grace understanding that sin was done away. He carried sin for us, & in His mercy, we are new each morning!

We arrive on the wings of the Holy Spirit’s power to be in the right places at the right times for the plan of God for our steps are ordered in Him. May we not be committed to that which causes side effects to death but that which is to life and see with the light that shines at noonday in Jesus name.  When we were slaves to sin, the only freedom we knew was freedom from righteousness. Now that is a desperate condition indeed. It is bound to evil of every form and free from every good thing. In Paul we are challenged to take inventory of the fruits of an unsaved life, fruits in those activities of which we believers are now ashamed. For time is certainly squandered, influence is misused, best friends are wronged in some way, and our love is anything but nice nor friendly.

May we become slaves to righteousness in His name for His sake. For in you and I, we should know that to be our spiritual biography!

 

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Circumstance, Emotions and Spiritual Awareness

Peace, be still!

Mark 4:33-41 NKJV 33 And with many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. 34 But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.

35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

From this passage of Scripture, Jesus and His disciples have had a day of ministry, as Jesus taught on the parables of the kingdom, He taught those who followed Him! In this they are on to the next place of ministry. Ultimately they  went where He commanded, and He gave the command to go to the other side.

But as is in this journey of life, we find sometimes that doing something Jesus commands, you and I can see a storm appear. On this evening a windstorm arose  and those waves of water beat into the boat. It is a serious matter when the water is joining you in the boat you are riding in to get to dry land. Then when these men saw those things, and they heard the sound of them as they grew in size to make a splash within the dry boat. And the wind made that sound when it is bearing down over the land and sea. Then, because they are moved by their emotions, they consider the prospect of their sudden death they might likely experience since this stormy circumstance has appeared to them!

Aware of their likely end in the sea of Galilee and being ruled by their emotions,  they call on Jesus and not only that they call on the Teacher loudly to proclaim, “Do You not care that we are perishing?”

It was then that Jesus arose and addressed the wind by rebuking it and in His speaking to the sea His authority ruled by that  “Peace, be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Then Jesus who spoke to them as He did the wind, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Yes, there appeared on this journey of life a storm. It was a described circumstance and it vividly declared their emotions in their speaking: “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” 

Do we have emotions that declare they rule us from our heart?

In those hours before this storm, Jesus had prepared them, not only on that day but all the previous days they had followed Him. He had exhorted them this day to hear in Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. 24 …….”take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 “For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Jesus was appealing to their spiritual perception. For those who receive His teachings and assimilate truth, will have their capacity for understanding enlarged, and their knowledge will be increased.

We are the converted, not living by our emotions anymore, but living by the spiritual in Christ Jesus. We are alive in Christ and we are heirs of salvation. We are free from spiritual bondage. We are responsible for what we have been given.

We find Nicodemus who came to see Jesus in the night hours and spoke with Him. Of course he was moved by the signs and they are assuredly those who added to the life of the human receiving them. It shows the goodness of God to those living in the shadow of death.

John 3:1-8  NKJV  There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again." 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus thought on the physical level and not the spiritual aspect of life in God. Upon our repentance of the old man, we become the believer in Jesus, the manifested word of God. Through Him we have the relationship in the spiritual and it is our beginning into the kingdom of God. Jesus spoke: “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

So if we are headed down that journey of life with Jesus enthroned on our hearts, will we sound like the disciples in this event of a storm that takes one by surprise, that causes emotions to rise like a flood over us and then be overwhelmed to the point of the fear of “death”?

Ephesians 3:17-21 NKJV 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  

Christ must dwell in our hearts and through faith, we are daily rooted and grounded in His love. In that walk we understand the width, length, depth and height of that love that we would be filled with all the fullness of God. No circumstance should overtake us, nor should emotions master us for our spiritual awareness is a faith in God who gave us His Best. Knowing His love is anchoring us in a hope that Jesus came and will come again to be at home with Him. It also marked us in a life that is long in the goodness of God for His glory and we cannot glorify Him if we live with no faith in Him!

Yes, most likely some kind of storm will pass by your pathway, but be rooted and grounded in Jesus. Know what is possible to you when all other things and people  speak the impossible against you.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21) Do not let your emotions rule your future. Even Satan can quote scriptures, but it is the Holy Spirit that makes God’s Word relevant in love to you the receiver. You are born again. Born again to know the Father through Jesus and by the Holy Spirit you rise to the position God destined you to be in. You were always meant to know truth, not a watered-down message but truth that always makes a point to the born again man and how he operates in the kingdom of God! Walking firmly in His commands, we dwell in His doctrine, the word manifested that comprises peace. Today we allow the Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts which we were called in one body and to be thankful and within that, whatever storms occur, we hold on in faith to Christ’s thoughts. And that which is within us will rule our emotions that are harnessed into the truth of God that keeps us safe. We continue to grow into the matured man or woman of God exercising authority on the earth speaking: “Peace, be still!”

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Fear and Trembling

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      Righteousness and NOT RIGHTS

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Nursery Rhymes and Dire Straits

Be cautious what you chase after.....you might get into dire straits!

Was hearing of the people this weekend who remembered and spoke of those nursery rhymes of given traditions in these United States of America....."now I  lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take"! 

You may have heard of them of your youth if you find yourself as old as me! And yes, that would certainly take you back decades if your parents related those teachings to you. Some might say they never heard it. But my question would be: "did your parents not speak to you about Jesus?" 
For by tradition, many books were handed down with nursery rhymes and poems to be spoken to children. Many story books held that of that "cow that jumped over the moon"! My question was "who let that cow out of the barn?"

Of course, we know there is no power in those words that are written as fantasy and fairy tales. You might have faith in them, but that is a belief from tradition and is fractured indeed! And many people have faith in their traditions! But after many decades of doing those traditional things, they find they do them without even thinking why they continue to do them when they bring no life to the observance of them!

One such lady I thought of in this writing, was a woman that never knew why her mother cut their super-size turkey in half for roasting at Thanksgiving. She saw her mother do it and so she did it as well!
In her later years, and children grown, they joined her mother again for a Thanksgiving meal and the mother told her she only did that when the woman now grown was a child of about six years old. She said, "if you remember we lived in a two bedroom apartment and there were five us living there. And the oven only held half-of-the-bird. So I had to cut it in pieces to fit it in that small apartment type oven.
But today, you have no issues. All the appliances should hold that 20 pound turkey with no problems! So all those years, the grown woman had continued to cut her turkey in half to prepare it like she had observed as a six year old girl!


In thinking about this and praying the last two days on this, I was reminded of Luke 24:5.
Why do you seek the living among the dead? This was angels speaking to those women who came to the tomb of Jesus. Verse 4 of Luke 24 reads : And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold two men stood by them in shining garments. And the angels continued to speak in verse 6: "He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee. Verse 7: "saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"

Jesus certainly was put in a tomb, but He left it like He said He would do! What Jesus spoke had power in those words!

Matthew 15:1-20 NKJV Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." 3 He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 " For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother' and 'He who curses father or mother; let him be put to death.' 5 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother,' "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God."-----6 'then he need not honor his father or mother.'Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"10 When He had called the multitude to Himself. He said to them, "Hear and understand: 11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth , this defiles a man."
Matthew 15: 12 Then His disciples came and said to him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." 15 Then Peter answered and said to him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 'Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

We should be beware of those who teach religious traditions over the word of God. And those who so seriously teach things whether from Atzec Indians from how many hundreds of years ago to prove it is not common to one country but to another and still leave God Almighty out of it! Seriously speaking, God sent His Son, that Son of His great love to die on the Cross for each of us. It does not matter what country, what skin color or what language, Jesus died for mankind. Yet many still want to prove their right and the other person is wrong, and all are on their way to hell. YIKES!
And today we see people setting these things up in schools and elsewhere, yet it has nothing to do with reading, writing, or learning mathematics. And it certainly has nothing to do with the history of this nation. 

For certainly worship of the heart has to be from a heart that loves God, whose Son is Jesus, whose Holy Spirit is with us to guide us in our daily walk with Him. This is not about some spiritual guide who lived thousands of years ago to lead you down that path that has the aroma of death, stinks like sulfur and appears as a fire on a horizon not too far from your pathway.

In Jesus is light and life. Without Him, you and I can do nothing! And be cautious of building altars to worship the dead. We are to build an altar within our heart, within our homes and that is found in a heart that loves Him, reveres Him and seeks to have that constant connection with Him.
Forsake any display of religion that is done primarily for man's approval. Pray and ask the Lord for His guidance that you not be succored into mindless things the enemy tries to use to gain people's time just for wasting it.

If your are spending time with people who dearly love to build altars to the dead, find new friends. We love our family members while they exist. We do not talk with them after they pass on. YOU do that and you will find yourself talking with demons. We are to seek life among the living. We are to know God as our highest priority. If we are looking at death all the time, then what is the condition of our heart? For prayer should be for the living not the those who already passed onto to life or death!

I certainly remember my paternal grandmother on her birthday. I remember how we loved to sew and create with fabrics and crochet thread. I remember she quilted for many years but I do not pray for her today. I loved that she loved eating hamburgers like I did, but I do not pray for her today. That time passed when she passed. What she gave to the Lord in her time on this earth is set. There is no changing it now!

My husband and I always drive by a cemetery on our way to the visit our children in the next county over from us. I do not pray for those who lie there in those coffins, but I do pray for those who do the upkeep of the grounds. And I do pray for those who may remain alive today who might have laid a loved one in a box in that cemetery. I also pray their lives would prove to be fruitful for the kingdom of God and not for the sake of tradition created by man himself.

James 3:16 tell us this: For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. We should never desire to want to hand our purity to a physical or spiritual seducer. Our salvation depended on Jesus and His trip to the Cross when He would die for man-kind. He did not shrink from death but He shrank from the thought of sin. He knew what it did to man-kind!

Proverbs 4:1 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; 2 for I give you good doctrine;

Proverbs 5:7 Therefore hear me now my children, & do not depart from the words of my mouth.;

Proverbs 7:24-26 NKJV Now therefore listen to me, my children pay attention to the words of my mouth 25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; 26 For she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men.  

Every living person who knows God should be willing to take another look at “therefore”…for here it means because immorality leads people of any age to be mounted like a head on wall, to be trapped in a cage, to be stuffed, or snared.....that is dangerous indeed!. Romans 8:12-13 NKJV 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors----not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.    

Godly purity stands in stark contrast to the social standards that a culture sets for a couple, for a family or for the individual! Are we chasing the next big thing that amounts to wasted time? We could look like the squirrel on the teacup trying to reach for something that is wrong and unsafe for us!

The covenant with God is loyalty as it is with the couple. We have the Holy Spirit of promise and His guidance is to be living for God with embattlements of silver to fortify that wall for we will speak words of Wisdom, have on the breastplate of righteousness having shod our feet with the gospel of peace wherewith we use the shield of our faith to stand offensively in prayer to engage in the battle of those strongholds that a culture can present.

Sustained by the Holy Spirit you and I can glorify God according to His will to see His kingdom come. Being jealous for the Lord, is revering Him and staying in that intimacy that marks that we are sealed by His Spirit rising in power for purpose that glorifies God in all our relationships, both young and old!

It is time to put away childish things and live for God in the power of His might! Amen!

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Birds of the Air

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AND When You Stand Praying

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