I will manifest myself to him…..

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Denise

John 14:21-24:  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

For a very long time now we’ve had the words of the bible telling us that those that have the commandments of Jesus and keep them, is he that loves Jesus and that he that loves Jesus shall be loved by the Father and Jesus would love him, and will manifest himself to them.

When Jesus said those words to the disciples, Judas asked how is it that Jesus would manifest himself unto His disciple, but not unto the world.  Jesus said once again that if a man loves him he will keep Jesus’ words and that the Father and Jesus will come unto him and make their abode with the one keeping his words.

We see the bible recording this happened as well.  Jesus is shown in the book of Acts 1, to have not only told the disciples where they were to go and stay, but that He manifest Himself to them after His resurrection just as He told them that He would do if they kept his words.

We then have Paul recording an experience with Jesus Christ, as well as Ananias, who was told by the Lord to go to the city and inquire of a man named Saul … and this took place, according to the bible after the ascension of Jesus Christ.

So now today, we’ve had the words of Jesus Christ in the pages of countless translations and languages telling us what Jesus said to His disciples said one does that loves Him but the “way” to have Him come and manifest Himself … and to have Him and the Father make their abode here …. and yet the question must be asked today… why are so many awaiting Jesus’ return?

Is it because the writings in the bible that record His words are not trusted or true?  Is it because we’ve had His words and His commandments…and the word of two or more “witnesses” telling us that not only what Jesus said, but also bearing “witness” in their writings of Him manifesting Himself to them as He said He would if one keeps His commandments….. and they are not believed in, therefore not followed?  Or is it because we have had them, the very words of Jesus Christ, know what it required for Him to manifest Himself to the ones that do them…. and we’ve had “beguiled” by the voice of another saying that one can “believe in Christ” or love Him and not follow Him or His words, and follow that of another instead?

Surely this would be something to consider… wouldn’t it?  Which is it do you supposed?  Or could it be that as Jesus said, no man comes to Him except they are drawn of God, and countless millions have not been drawn to Him… being taught by God and hearing and learning from God first?  For Jesus is also shown to have said the following in the bible…

John 6:45:  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

Or could it be….

Luke 17:25: “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, End Times, Faith, God, Jesus, Reconciliation to God | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Pastors, Evangelists, Apostles, Preachers, Teachers??

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Denise

Can you share with me where there is any mention by Jesus Christ or a directive to His disciples regarding the “saving of souls”? I’ve heard this said and claimed to be the reason for churches to be focused on and yet find nothing in the pages of the bible where Jesus ever mentions anything about the “saving of souls” or sending out the disciples so that they could “save souls” either. So can you share with me where you find Jesus saying anything about this?

Next we see in the bible that Jesus states that His reason for coming was to do the will of the Father. That those that had heard from God and had been taught of God would come to Him, and that when he called them they would come and follow Him.

Jesus went among His “own” tossing out the money changers, and dealing with the religious leaders within His “own”. When we carefully examine what the bible shows us about what Jesus did and that He said that the servant is to be as his Master is… we see that Jesus shared what God gave him to speak to those that came to him, were brought to him, called him to come to them or where God sent him. That is the same “manner” in which He taught the disciples as well. His message from its beginning was that the kingdom of heaven was at hand… that the kingdom of God is within to His disciples, and that the power of God was on earth as it is in heaven… and the understanding of that.

So if today we are to be as Christ… then wouldn’t that include doing as Christ did regarding speaking whatever it is that God gives each of us to speak to those that come to us, that are brought to us, that call us to come to them… or where God directs each of us to go?

Wasn’t the disciples of Christ told specifically that they were to teach others to observe whatsoever that Jesus had commanded them and that if the people kept His words, that they would be his disciples indeed??

So if one is to be making disciples according to the bible… how would one do that not following the instruction of Jesus Christ in doing so? Where do we find Jesus saying anything about those disciples getting them a pastor to nurture those that they bring in.. or a teacher to make disciples.. to take them from the milk to the meat… or an evangelist to bring them in?

The disciples of Christ, according to the bible went out into the streets of the cities also.. .. so isn’t what you’re sharing here that is going on in what we call the church today, simply the result of people following “another way” other than what Jesus said and what it is that Jesus said that those that love him would do??

Can we fulfill the great commission by teaching and telling people to do things other than what it is that Jesus commanded when that very “great commission” clearly is recorded within the bible to have been to “teach them to observe whatsoever I have commanded ye”… which included what one was to do to be a disciple?

So again, do we discredit the bible and what its been telling us on all these points said and lived by Jesus Christ… to follow another…. or do we realize that the bible is able to be read by everyone with the ability to read… and more and more people are seeing and knowing what it is that Jesus Christ said and commanded to be done by those that love Him… and people are simply seeing the “fruits” of those that have or do worship with their lips while having their hearts very far from Him?

Isn’t so much of this going on today what is known as “anti-Christ” (against Christ and His teachings/commandments)???

Jesus said clearly those that the Father has given Him will COME to Him… He said those if a person loves Him they will keep His commandments…. He didn’t say that they would have to be brought in… or that they were to have to be “outreaches” to get them to come in….. nor did He say “if you love me… make everyone else keep my commandments”…. He knew that they would COME TO HIM and they did then and still do today!! ♥♥

Another point to consider in this is when Jesus said that those that the Father has given Him He will not lose a one.. that there is no one that will be able to snatch them from His hand… and that no man comes to Him except the Father draw them… so where do we get the idea given all that Jesus said about having “won souls” or “winning a soul”? How can we “win” something for Christ, when the bible states God has given it all to Him? How can we “win a soul” when it is God that is shown to have breathed the breathe of life into the man formed of the dust of the ground for him to become a living soul to begin with??

Surely there is much to be considered in light of what the bible has to say on these points… isn’t there???

“The Great Commission isn’t a suggestion…it is a command!

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him;”

YES it is a command that is given to His disciples as the bible clearly states…. those that had kept His commandments to them… that had forsaken all to be His disciple, and who had went even to the place he told them to go and was there waiting for him when they saw Him.

So the commandment was given to the disciples to make disciples by teaching them to do EVERYTHING I have commanded you… which was inclusive of what was required to be a disciple.

Yet how many disciples of Christ do we have out there teaching people everything that Jesus commanded the disciples in the bible beginning with what it was that one was to do to be a disciple of His as we see Peter doing in the book of Acts?

So is the commandment given to everyone… or is it given … according to the bible to Disciples of Christ???

“In the Great Commission, Jesus calls every Christian to step out in faith and spread the Good News.”

Are we discounting the bible as it is written here? You say “every Christian”..yet the bible states the commission was given to eleven disciples of Christ…. to make other disciples… so those commandments would have been given to those that were disciples first.

Also let’s remember again, unless we’re going to discount the bible that a “Christian” is what one is called by another once a person has become a disciple of Christ, after they have done as Christ did, and after they are seen in the streets of cities doing as Christ did and teaching others to observe everything that Christ commanded them to do as His disciple….

So there seems to be a lot of “commandments” of Jesus Christ that are being rejected, not followed, not taught and surely not kept by a lot of people who come well before the commandment to “go out to the nations” … including what one must do to be His disciple…

We all can read what it is that Jesus also said about breaking the “least of these commandments” and teaching others to do so as well…. don’t we??

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s also remember that according to the bible God never sent Jesus out to teach or preach until after being lead of the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil…. and Jesus is recorded to have sent out His disciples first to “cast out demons, heal the sick, etc”… for them to have God confirm them His words to them and the power of God with them in the earth FIRST before they were ever sent out to teach anyone else to observe whatsoever Jesus had commanded them……

So it was not just a person claiming to believe in Jesus that was His disciple. It wasn’t a person that just had “accepted Jesus into his/her heart” or said a “sinners prayer” .. nor was it a person that someone else was telling them what Jesus said was to be done… this was coming to them from Jesus Himself and if as the bible states, those that keep His commandments He will manifest Himself to them and He and the Father will come and make their abode with the one doing so…. then wouldn’t it be likewise Jesus as well today telling people who are His disciples when to go and not to go rather than man???

Wasn’t that the reason Jesus commanded His disciples all those years ago now to go out and teach others to observe whatsoever He had commanded them…. so that by them keeping HIS commandments, that He would manifest Himself to them…. and He and the Father would come to them and make their abode with the one doing so…. and it would be Jesus and the Father sending them out as well…. no one else???

So how many people do you suppose today that are out there in our world telling people about Jesus, preaching the Gospel and the rest that have never had Jesus manifest Himself to them through them keeping His commandments FIRST themselves and them becoming HIS disciple FIRST??

“And How Shall They Hear Without a Preacher” (Romans 10:14) “

We don’t have to have a preacher today do we? Don’t we have the written words of God given to Jesus Christ in the pages of the bible? Do we not have the commandments of Jesus Christ in those pages that tell us that to those that keep His commandments Jesus will manifest Himself to them, and that He and the Father will come and make their abode with the one doing so???

See, people are saying and have been for a very long time now that we have the writings and that they are the word of God… that they contain the words that God would have us to know and that have been preserved for us all to know the OT writings that spoke of Christ and what was done by Christ, His commandments, and what was done as well afterwards until the Revelation of Jesus Christ was given by God to Christ to share with His servant.

Today, and for a very long time now, we’ve had ALL of those writings… so unless they are NOT the words of God and His Christ… are not able to be trusted.. and are not able to provide to us the commandments of Jesus Christ, and the directive that those that love Him will keep them and to those that do keep them HE will manifest Himself and the Father and Christ will come to the one keeping them and make their abode with the one doing so….. then we have a “preacher” today…. don’t we???

See once again .. we would have to discount so much of what is said to be believed about the bible…. what has happened after Paul said those words or wrote them down and the compilation of the writings completed and distributed for us to be in need of anything more than keeping His commandments as they are given in the page of the bible (word of God) for Him to manifest HIMSELF to those doing so and Him and the Father made their abode with the one doing so…. to then take it from there… right???

In fact, doesn’t the book of John state clearly that the one that witnessed these things had made a true record of them and shared it in that one book so that those reading it would believe ??

John 19:35 (NIV)The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.

Isn’t it upon the mouth of two or more that the words of Jesus Christ come to us in the pages of the bibles we have today? So the question should be asked then… if we have the two or more telling us and their words are true and accurate and record not only what it is that they said and they heard from the mouth of Jesus Christ …. and His words are written in red in most of our bibles, leaping from its pages so as not to be missed or ignored…. so what more is it that would have need of than the written testimony given of what Jesus said to follow them and keep them to have HIM MANIFEST HIMSELF to the ones doing so?

Wouldn’t we have to discount the writings as not being trustworthy…. not being able to share with us what Jesus said and commanded today…. or that Jesus cannot be trusted to MANIFEST HIMSELF to those keeping those commandments today to need a preacher, teacher or anyone else to share with us HIS WORDS and HIS COMMANDMENTS .. than those two or more that we have in the writings in our own bibles???

Surely this is something to consider isn’t it???

“Read Acts 1:8 and get back to me. “

Okay… I have and here it is. This is the writer of Acts account of what went on with the disciples of Christ when Christ appeared to them after His resurrection.

“Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

So again this is what is recorded to have been said to Jesus’ disciples.. what they did and what it was that they were to do AFTER this happened to them…..

So this is exactly what I’m sharing.. these were first disciples. First they had become His disciple by following the commandments that had been given to them including what was to be done to be His disciple. They had not only walked with Him and been taught by Him for about three years, they had seen first hand and were witness that the power of God was with them in having been themselves casting out demons, healing the sick, etc… before they were told by Jesus to wait for him in that place where He manifest Himself to them AFTER the resurrection because again they had kept HIS commandments.

It was at that time… Him manifesting Himself to them AFTER the resurrection that He spoke to them telling them these points of what was to come afterward with the Holy Spirit.

However the key points here are that they had kept His commandments…. and He had manifest Himself to them AFTER His resurrection, just as He said He would and TODAY we have the writings of two or more “witnesses” on the fact that not only He said that those that keep His commandments that HE will manifest Himself to them…. but that He did so to them as well…. again … as John had said in the reason for him making a record of it… so that “you also may believe”!

Beautiful isn’t it!! ♥♥

“Second, you must witness because you love the unsaved (if you don’t, you should).”

What do you mean here? How can a person witness what one has not seen for Himself? We have the writings of two or more witnesses in the pages of our bibles… right?

What is it that they seen that they are bearing witness of? They seen the power of God on the earth with men… beginning with Christ… and then with themselves.

They heard Jesus tell them His commandments and that those that love Him and keep them that He would manifest Himself to them… and all that He told them come to pass just as He said it would.

They wrote down, according to John those “testimonies” or “witness” accounts of what they seen so that “you may believe”… not because they loved “lost souls” and wanted them saved….. but for what reason… so that “you may believe” and keep His commandments so that He will manifest Himself unto those doing so as He had done with them.

We have been told for years that the bible is trustworthy.. that it is without question the word of God and that it is accurate and true.. and yet John tells us that his record was given so that people would believe… and keep His commandments so that He would manifest Himself to others as He had with them… and yet today… we have those words… those very same commandments… and who it is that is bearing “witness” today of Jesus having manifest Himself to them as a result of them keeping those very commandments?

If one is to make disciples… and teach others to observe whatsoever Jesus commanded them… and that is the means by which Jesus is shown to have said He would manifest Himself… and those writings tell us that two or more bear “witness” that He did just that… then can anyone today “bear witness” as those disciples did that have not first kept His commandments to have Him manifest Himself to them???

So today.. if we are not finding people with a bible and the ability to read it for themselves… and see that it is the witness of two or more of what it is that Jesus is said to have done and commanded… and they are not following His commandments as a result of reading those two or more witness accounts … not believing in those writings and those witness accounts to even follow what it is that they say to see if Jesus does manifest Himself to them… isn’t that “witness” or “evidence” that of their own doubt and unbelief in the two or more witness accounts in the pages of the bible being true and accurate in the first place?

So again.. can we witness something that we have not seen … isn’t that what a “witness” was in the biblical record…. wasn’t these people sharing with us, including Paul what it was that Jesus said to them AFTER His resurrection… and AFTER they kept His commandments given to them???

Would this be the reason that we have so many today waiting on the return of Jesus Christ.. when the bible we all are able to read has been sharing with us the “way” to which when followed and kept because one loves the FATHER that sent Him that He would manifest Himself and come with the Father and make their abode with the one doing so?????

Surely is another point for consideration given what the bible states Jesus said as well.. right???

“What does Jesus Christ say about the one who is ashamed of Him? (Luke 9:26) How should this affect your witness?”

Excellent question!

Luk 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and [in his] Father’s, and of the holy angels.

Look at what Jesus is saying here… ashamed of me and of MY WORDS… so the point Jesus is making is being ashamed in not keeping His word or having them and not keeping them.

Look for a moment with me back to Adam in Genesis… Adam had the words of God to him.. and immediately when he went against them.. what does it say… he seen himself naked and was ashamed/afraid….

Being afraid, ashamed, guilty within each of us occurs when we know what it is that we are to do and go against it. When we have the word of God or His Christ and know what they are and are not keeping them or don’t ourselves… how can that be love when Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments as I have loved the Father and kept His commandments… and wouldn’t that indicate one being “ashamed” of Him and His words?

Or as we see illustrated in the bible.. to have His commandments today in the pages of our bibles, know what they say…able to hear them and read them and then turn from them because of “cares of this world” or “have a new wife and must return to care for her” or “have a family member that just died and need to go back and bury him”. Isn’t that what we see in the pages of the bible that happened in many cases?

Isn’t this what we also see in the pages of the bible how the “sheep” were separated as well. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice and another they will not follow…that when He calls His sheep they come and when they hear His voice they know it and will come and He will lead them out??

So I can understand someone today thinking that being ashamed of Christ means being ashamed to be a “witness” for him in the sense of what so often is done in Christianity… but when we look at the bible account of what it says a “witness” was.. it was a person that had first hand experience not only with the power of God on the earth but witness as well of the manifestation of Christ to them as a result of having kept His commandments…. and for the life of me I cannot find one record in the bible of one that had such an experience being “ashamed” about that part…. in fact, they were doing so, even being beaten and arrested for it… so according to the bible…. it is “ashamed of me and my words” in the sense of having them and not keeping them FIRST.

Cause I surely see no evidence in the writings where those that kept His commandments to them and He manifest Himself to them and they seen Him after his “passion” was ashamed of telling anyone about it… LOL

“If you are faithful to follow Jesus, what did He promise to do? (Matthew 4:19) How has he helped you do this? “

There is far more to the keeping of the commandments of Jesus Christ outlined in the pages of our bibles. The “promise” is that He will manifest Himself to the ones that do so…. that He and the Father will come to the one that does so and make their abode with him….

So if the object is that those that are taught by God and hear and learn from God will come to Christ and they will keep His commandments (word of God-given by Him) resulting in Him manifesting Himself to them…. and the Father and Christ coming to the one doing so and making their abode with them….and today we have the “way” and the “words of God-given by Christ… unless we are discounting the bible and what it has within it… then why would be “fisher’s of men”??

See you seem to discount that in the day that Christ said that to His disciples… there was no writings of His words or His commandments at that time. There were no disciples of His… in fact this is what was said to Peter and Andrew who were fisherman when Christ called them to come follow … and to whom “straightway” left it all behind to follow him….

Yet again… Peter is also shown in the bible to have kept the commandments that he knew and had been a faithful to them at the time that Jesus said to him ‘come follow me”. We also see that Jesus told the young man coming to him inquiring how to have eternal life, the first thing Jesus said was “keep the commandments”.

So it was to those that had been faithful in little that had been given to them already that much more was given…. right?

So today…. with the bible.. and with the two or more witnesses that we have of what it is that Jesus said and did… and the “little that has been given”… isn’t it to see whether one will be faithful in the “little that has been given” …. and be given more… or if the little that one has will be taken from them as the result of not being “faithful in the little that is given”.. ???

Wouldn’t it be the person today, having the bible, the words of Jesus Christ within its pages, the “word of God” made flesh, upon the mouth of two or more that would be ashamed of Him and His words if they are not keeping them and being faithful in the little that has been given????

Luk 19:26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Mat 25:23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Hbr 3:5 And Moses verily [was] faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

As Hebrews outlines here in this passage it was being faithful as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be SPOKEN AFTER… this is the same thing the we see with the disciples. They were faithful servants to keep what Jesus commanded them and for a testimony of those things which were to be SPOKEN AFTER His resurrection by Him to them…. as well a testimony of things which were to be spoken after them as well….

So yes, by all means one is required to be a faithful servant even in the little that one is given or one has….. or even that which one hath, according to Jesus will be taken!!

“God WILL find His own. No one comes to God save the spirit draw him.”

Well to be honest with you it’s not God that has “lost” anyone to have to “find” His own… He draws them to come to Christ, leads them and guides them and gives them the way to eternal life (know thee, the one true God and Jesus Christ) so the “drawing” is to come to know Him (eternal life) as Jesus said.

” Now that being said, God has his voices and messengers on earth to take His Gospel to the world, but we as a church have elevated evangelism to the point where we have developed tactics and strategies and methods of reaching reaching… that are above and beyond.”

Well this is the point that I have to question given what it is that the bible says and what it is that so many have been telling us so long now that it contains. We have His words, we have the words of the messengers He sent, we have the word of His Son that He sent and said upon the mouth of two or more that He was well pleased with and commanded men to “hear Him”.

So unless we are going to now say that the bible is not to be trusted, that it does not give us the words of God, the words of His Christ and the “witness” testimony of two or more, of God’s words given to Jesus to speak….. that according to God was to establish a matter in terms of life and death.. (upon the mouth of two or more witnesses)… then what else would we have need of today in the means of messengers, voices, prophets, etc?

See it seems to totally discount the bible and what it shares with us today to have people saying that we still need messengers or voices or prophets, teachers, preachers, evangelists, when we have the bible.

We can’t be claiming out of one side of our mouths that the bible is the word of God, that it can be trusted that there is a belief in it that it is in fact the word of God to His Christ that was shared all those years ago now… and that those that keep them for themselves as evidence of their love of God and His Christ.. that Jesus will manifest Himself to them when they do so as it states and then claim by our actions it not to be so… can we?

If there was given some, apostles, prophets, preachers, evangelists… then those are all found in the pages of the bible are they not? Was Paul speaking in his day of what was to come in the future… or sharing his understanding of what it was that he knew of the OT writings … cause according to the OT, we had pastors, teachers, evangelists and preachers all within those pages… right??

So I’m with you on the point that the church today has developed tactics and such to do the reaching reaching, above and beyond.. but what I also find is that in doing so and in putting the focus so much on becoming preachers, teachers, prophets, and evangelists, today they are discounting the very ones that God had already given… the writings in the bible as being sufficient for one to believe, as if those were not sufficient in conveying the “word of God” that became flesh… and was manifest to destroy the works of the devil among those that kept His commandments.

It’s just difficult for me to reconcile Jesus saying in those pages upon the mouth of two or more that those that keep His commandments that He will manifest Himself to them… and that to the one doing so that the Father and Christ will come and make their abode with…. and having those words and the commandment of Jesus to His disciples to go out all those years ago now teaching others to keep those very commandments that He had given them for the same reason… so that to others that love Him and the Father, that keep His commandments that He would likewise manifest Himself to them…. and we have those very commandments and all those writings… and yet people still seeming to see that we still need preachers, teachers, prophets, evangelists etc.

Now if there had never been any compilation of those testimonies/witness accounts…. and we did not have them today…. then I could see and understand the idea and concept of having to have “oral” traditions continue where someone else was having to tell us what it was that they heard Jesus say because in those days it had not been written down… but now today…. all these years after so many are so confident that holy men of God were guided to assemble those very words and put them into what we have today called our bibles.. and so many so confident that they are in fact the very words of God and His Christ… what more in the way of prophets, evangelists, preachers, or teachers would we need to hear from or have the witness and testimony of for us to love Him and keep His commandments for Him to manifest Himself to those doing so???

Wouldn’t we have to reject the bible as being what its said to be… as well as reject Jesus’ own words within its pages that come to us upon the mouth of those two or more witnesses to be waiting on another or His return after He’s given the “way” that He said again (upon the mouth of two or more) that He would manifest Himself???

Surely we have to give this some consideration… don’t we????

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, God, Jesus | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Disciple of Christ??

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Denise

We are often times told of what the disciples of Christ did or said from the pages of the bible, but there is very little discussion about what a disciple of Christ is, and what the bible shows us on this point.

So earlier today in a discussion, this question came up and here is my response to some of the points made in the discussion.  Once you’ve read what is here revisit the bible and see what it is that the bible has been sharing with us all for a long time now.

My response in the discussion…

I agree with you that according to the bible writings, Jesus is shown to have said to His disciples that they were to go and make disciples and we have to define the word disciple based on what Jesus said about it to know what is recorded to have been what Jesus was referring to.

Jesus’ words in the bible tell us what it is that one that came to him to be a disciple of His was to do or he could not be His disciple. That is recorded to have been things like forsake all that one has, take up ones cross, be as one’s master is, hate family and friends, and even one’s own life… or one could not be His disciple.

Luk 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

Luk 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

So Jesus makes it clear that one cannot be His disciple that does not do these things, and we see from the writings that His disciples, did those things and were also shown to have taught others afterwards this same commandments as well.

So now comes the question, if one is to be a disciple of Christ, based on what the bible tells us… is this not what Jesus says first? How is it that one can be submitting himself/herself to the teaching of Christ in the bible, believing them to be true and accurate if one is not doing these things to become His disciple?

Wouldn’t we have to discount Jesus’ very words on these points in the pages of the bible to say that one can become His disciple not doing those things?

Next, if a disciple means being a dedicated follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ… and we have His teachings and His commandments in the pages of the bible… then why would we reject them and do something other than what it is that He says in them?

If the faithful servant is to submit and keep all the commandments and teachings of Jesus Christ… then how can one be a follower of His, or a disciple of His by following another?

If a disciple of Christ submits every area of life to Jesus.. then would that not begin with the forsaking all as outlined by Jesus to become a disciple… and wouldn’t that then mean that one would not go anywhere… not join a church, not be taught or led by anyone else other than Jesus Christ Himself?

So again it seems that the question here is whether or not we take the bible as it is written and take Jesus at His words within those pages as to what is a disciple and what it is that the writings tell us that Jesus said whosoever comes to him is to do or one cannot be His disciple….. or do we take what it is that someone else has to say on that point?

Why would we today have to have an “elder” teach us what it is that Christ commanded within those pages of the bible, when we have the bible and are able to read them for ourselves and follow them if we are drawn of God to Christ to be His disciple?

See once again saying that we have to have an elder or anyone else today to teach us what Jesus said seems to be negating the validity of the bible and the accurate record or the true and trustworthy record of those two or more mouths that share with us within those pages what it is that Jesus said and commanded His disciples to do.

It seems to either be saying that the bible is not to be trusted, or that we can’t read it and see what it says and simply do it if we are drawn of God to Christ as it says… or that as so often we’ve heard that there are only a few that know what it really means and thus we must go to a priest or preacher and have them to tell us what it means… doesn’t it???

For more on what I’ve shared on “What is a disciple-the Biblical perspective” Click Here!

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, God, Jesus | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What is Sin?

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Denise

I was asked today to share my understanding of the definition of sin after I had shared the following information in a discussion group about “no one gets away with sin”….so I’m going to begin by sharing my comments to Mark in that discussion (you can click the link to go there and read the entire discussion if you’d like).. and then I’ll share my response regarding the definition of “sin”…..

(Repost from the discussion)

Denise Smith • Mark, I think what you’ve shared here in the opening portion of this discussion is something that we should all take notice of and see something very profound within….

“Those who are able to consistently sin and not be rebuked by God are not His children. Those who have been born again are seized by deep conviction when they sin, and if they do not repent they are always “spanked” by God for it. Is this true in your life? Do you pass the family test? ”

Look at this portion with me for just a moment…. you say here that those that are able to consistently sin and not be rebuked by God are not His children but where is it we get the idea of this in the first place??

This happens to everyone… as the bible tells us has been going on from the beginning. Adam is shown to have known what it was that he was not to do and when he went against it “immediately” his “eyes were opened”… (he became aware) of what he had done. There is no mention of Adam having to be born again or claiming to be God’s child and yet “immediately” was the response to going against what it was that he knew within him to do.

That is the same thing that we see in everyone… even in animals… in our children before they are even aware of God or what it is that people say God would consider to be “sin” in the first place… giving us clear evidence that there is a knowing within each of us… even before we are aware of God or know of God or have as the bible refers to with young Samuel, ‘heard the words of God” of what it is that we are to do and not to do… and when we go against it… we know that as well.

So to say that there is some “family test” that must be passed or that God is doing the “spanking” that is done “immediately” within each of us, regardless of whether we know about God or the bible or Jesus or any of those things….

As Jesus said to His disciples, the kingdom of God is within you… that is where it had been from their beginning as it is from our beginning as well. We can hear the voice of God and know within us what it is that we are to do and not to do even before the “hearing of the words of God” as we see with the young Samuel.

It is when we go against that … as we see with Adam, “immediately” our “eyes are opened” .. (we know it, see what we’ve done) and at that point we either justify our actions by blaming someone else… shifting the responsibility of our own actions upon another… or we gain wisdom and understanding and do not repeat that action again… learning in the process to trust that which is within us at all times….

As God is shown to have told Adam… in the day that you go against what you know to you… ye shall surely die…. that which is within you that is there to lead, guide and teach you is killed off in that moment… its leading, guidance, and directives are ignored and thus you suffer as a result of that. As the passage above states, “but since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, and you ignored all the advice and would not accept my rebuke/correction…… distress and trouble overwhelms you….

What this is telling us is what goes on within each of us …. what has been going on within man from man’s beginning…. and how it is that a man who remains stiff-necked and will not follow what it is that is within him…. what it is that he knows within him that he is to do and not to do…. after many rebukes/corrections and experiences with knowing what it is that is to be done and does not follow it … is suddenly destroyed…

For when that which is within you says to stop, go or turn and you don’t do so…. and repeatedly don’t follow it…. that which is within you is destroyed….

This is so beautifully illustrated as well in Jesus’ statement “I am the resurrection” before His death on the cross IMO… and the profound “message/lesson” illustrated throughout the entire bible as well.

Denise Smith • So no one… nothing…. no matter what our beliefs are… no matter what we know of the word of God in the bible, of God or Jesus, or not… gets away with going against what it is that we know within us at any given moment that we are to do or not to do…. we not only know it… but “immediately our eyes are opened” and we know when we’ve gone against it as well. ♥

For as the bible has been sharing with us all this time… it is written in our inward parts.. in our own hearts and minds…. and we know… without having to be taught one of another nor to be teaching one another to “know the Lord”… for all do from the least to the greatest!! ♥

William then asks this question “What evidence of sin do you see in animals? It seems to me that they do exactly as they were created to do. “

To which I responded….

Yes, William they do exactly as they are created to do … including adjusting their “path” or directions based on what it is that is within them and learning from the times that they “miss the mark”.(sin).. and do it all without having to have writings to tell them about what they are to do … someone else telling them that they are a “sinner” and need to “repent”…all simply from what it is that they are created to do and be from within themselves. ♥

William then asks this question .. “Denise, might you then offer a definition of Sin that is both comprehensible and that would apply to animals.”

To which I responded…

Sin as in “missing the mark” is to know from within what it is that one is to do, to make the effort to do it as best as one is able at that given moment, and “miss the mark” as not be “perfected” in it through the practice of it so that one “misses the mark” and thus learns from that, readjust or correct ones approach or direction in an effort, or simply does it again and again… that through the “doing it” again one is able to accomplish and be “perfected” in what it is that one is to do.

When one is “perfected” in one’s ability to do whatever it is that one is given to do from within oneself, then one can “go and sin no more”. Until that time… one can have the knowing of what it is that they are to do and not to do…. and are making an effort at doing it and are doing it to the “best of their current ability” but yet are not “perfected in it”.. thus will “miss the mark”.

Now my closing comments…

I’ve come to understand that the issue with Adam from the beginning as illustrated in the bible is that not only did Adam know what it was that he was not to do, he made no effort to keep it and be faithful to what it was that he knew to do…. thus the punishment or the consequences of his actions resulted.  Had he made any effort at all… things would have been much different as we see illustrated in the bible in the passages like this…

Genesis 20:5-6:  Said he not unto me, She [is] my sister? and she, even she herself said, He [is] my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

I Kings 9:4- And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, [and] wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:

In the first passage in Genesis we see that the man made an effort to do what it was that he knew to do.  He inquired of two people to make sure that he was not going against what he knew to do and as we see in the verse, God said to him in a dream that God himself had kept this man from sinning against God because of the integrity of his heart.  He had made the effort not to go against what it was that he knew he was not to do….

The same we know of David… that even though David is shown to have done a lot of things … he was also recorded to have been a man after God’s own heart, because he walked with God in integrity of heart, making an effort as best as he could to do as it was that God gave him to do or not to do.

Now where the confusion comes in at times I think is that in seeing the difference in when one is “missing the mark” (sin) as a result of making the effort as best as one is able to do and with the integrity of heart … meaning not with the willful intention in the heart to go against what it is that one knows to do in one’s own heart… and willfully going against what it is that one knows in one’s own heart to do…. OR not making any effort at all to do what it is that one knows it is that one is to do.

As the bible states, “the good that a man knows to do and does it not, to him it is sin”… the does it not is the point here…. “makes no effort at all”!  That is the does it not… and that is the “did it not” that Adam is shown to have done in the pages of the book of Genesis.

We, as does all things not only know what it is that we are to do and not do from within us… we also are able to know for ourselves, without anyone else being involved whether we have done it with integrity of heart, making an effort to the best of our ability … or haven’t made any effort to do it.  Animals, are the same… they know whether they have missed the mark by making the effort and not being perfect in what it is that they were to do… or if they have not made any efforts and thus the consequences bring them misery and often times death, as it does with us… verses at least making an effort and “missing the mark”!!

So if we are going to consider the term “sin” from the bible… let’s see what the bible actually tells us about it and the examples of the various “missing the mark” passages versus the time that there was no effort and have a clearer understanding of what those differences are as well as how learning and understanding comes as the result of both!  ♥

 

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, FAQ, God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is the Bible the Word of God???

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Denise

Have you ever thought about where it is that we get the idea that the bible is the word of God?  Can you for a moment think about to the time that you first heard that the bible is the “word of God” and where you heard that from?

I’ve been participating in a lot of discussions this week with others about the bible and yet so few seem to consider for a moment some key points about the bible and whether it is the word of God … and more importantly how can we know this and be sure of it?

Most of us heard the bible is the word of God from someone else… and yet the bible tells us when reading it that man was always to live by what God said and none other.  We know that though there has been a lot of effort, time and research put into attempting to determine who the writers of the various books of the bible are… we still haven’t had scholars or historians to be able to concretely determine that about many of the writings we have in the bible….. and yet if we are not able to even know for sure who wrote them…. what their understanding might have been in their own day…. how is it that we can know that what they are telling us is in fact, what it is that God told them, revealed to them or made known to them?

Jesus makes an interesting point in the writings, about how it is that one is to be able to know if the words that He spoke were the words of God…. and that was in the doing of them.  He is shown in the bible to state that one doing as He said God told him to speak…. that it was God Himself that would confirm His words to those that were followed them… and yet wouldn’t that still mean that we’d have to question what even those words were given that we can’t be sure who wrote in the pages of the bible what is said to have been spoken, and done even by Jesus Christ?

So how is one to know…. how is one to be able to be confident in what words in the bible are in fact what God said to someone else…. God revealed to someone else…. what Jesus said and done or didn’t…. or for that matter anyone else??  Wouldn’t we have to return to the “source” and ask God even about the bible?

If our trust is to be in God in all things….. then surely it will have to be in all things.. including the Bible… right?  If for a moment we can consider that there is the possibility that what is in those writings are in fact the words of God, the Eternal, Almighty, and they share with us that man was to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God…. that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, that Jesus’ example of living was to do only what it was that the Father gave Him to do, and if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth not….. would there be any way to trust God in all things…. without asking GOD first in all things… including about the Bible?

Wouldn’t we have to consider that if we are not doing so ourselves…. then it is not others that do not believe those words to be the words of God…. but us??

So be encouraged today and everyday to ASK GOD… to take direction in your life on a daily basis from God and that which He writes in your own heart and on your own mind… remembering that all that you have need of is within you!!

Enjoy!!

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, Faith, God | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Let your heart not be troubled….

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Denise

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The peace that the world gives is not the peace that Jesus refers to in this passage… “not as the world giveth”…. but the peace that comes from within you when you know who you are… and you no longer are swayed or “tossed to and fro” by every “wind of doctrine” (what others have to say about you or to you).

Years ago, during a time of realizing what it was that Jesus was referring to in this passage and considering how influenced my own life and living had been as a result of what others had said to me, taught me, what people said the bible said about me…. I came to realize that when we are being tossed to and fro by every “wind of doctrine”… (what others have to say)… it is to show us that the real issue is that we’re not living or have come to be confident in who we are….based on what is within us… therefore the peace that Jesus speaks of in this passage… isn’t able to be “received”.

Our heart is troubled, when we are trying to live up to something that is not coming from within us, that is the view or opinion of someone else or what someone else has told us that the bible says about us, to us, or what God says about us, rather than what it is that we know within ourselves.

No one, not a single person alive knows you better than you know yourself.  Being honest with yourself, about yourself, and what you know of yourself is the first place to begin in returning to the peace that passes all understanding.

Realizing, how far away from who you really are from within yourself, that you’ve allowed the “winds of doctrine” to take you…. isn’t something to be upset about either…. it is for our learning and gaining wisdom… so that once we have that peace again… we will know how it all began… so that we will not again “let your hearts be troubled”… for we will know for ourselves what it was that caused our hearts to be troubled to begin with.

So today, be encouraged, as you read this post…. don’t let your heart be troubled… weed your garden of the views of yourself and the opinions of you that others have of you, what they have said to you, or about you… or even what you think that they might think of you… and be content in who you are….Let your hearts not be troubled, neither let it be afraid!!

 

Posted in Bible, Compassion, Faith, God, Jesus, Knowing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Commandments of God given to Jesus Christ…

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Denise

I’ve been asked about this many times and heard many times people questioning aren’t the commandments Jesus refers to the same as the ones that are given by Moses, or what most refer to as the “Ten Commandments”?  The answer to that according to the bible’s record of what Jesus said, is a resounding no!

Now you might be asking, does that mean that we are not to keep the “Ten commandments”…. or now that we’re under grace we don’t have to keep commandments… but we have to consider what it is that the bible shares with us from Jesus versus what it is that Moses gave that Jesus is also to have referred to that if one would not hear Moses, one wouldn’t hear one raised from the dead.

So what I’d encourage each person to do is to pick up the bible and read for yourself what it is that Jesus is recorded to have said God gave Him to speak.  We can see from the pages of the bible that those “commandments”, “his words” “his sayings” actually are.

First we can see that often times they begin with “ye have heard it said”… followed by “but I say unto you”…. indicating what it was that they had been taught by oral traditions, or had heard others telling them….

Then we see that most of them have to do with changing a known “tradition” of the time based on what they had heard and were taught.  “Ye have heard it said an eye for an eye, but I say unto you…..

We also see in the words of the bible where Jesus begins by having first himself gone through a wilderness experience, where he faced the temptation to turn from He knew  “it is written” that he states to the devil.  It was AFTER his refusal to go against “it is written” that we see Him being sent by God to Galilee of the Gentiles to begin sharing what it was that God had given Him to do and to speak.

We see in reading what is known as the “Ten Commandments” …. “thou shalt not”… so often said… and with what Jesus shared it is “but I say unto you”… or “but when ye “… showing a difference in what it was that they had heard or had been their practice … to what was now going to move them beyond what they had heard… to hearing from God directly and knowing God for themselves…. beginning with the instruction that one was to forsake all that one had to be a disciple of His.

Now I don’t know about you … but there is a lot more of a difference in what Jesus had to say and command, and what it is that we see the disciples whom He is recorded to have sent out teaching people to observe that He had commanded them…. than just the “Ten commandments”.

We see that not only did Jesus say that one must forsake all to be his disciple.. we see the record in the bible of His disciples doing that themselves… but also we see in the book of Acts, Peter also teaching this as well as a requirement for one to be a disciple… and people were selling all they had and giving so that none would suffer lack…. because it is in that record that we have the one spoken of that didn’t give all, held back some and fell over dead after lying about it.  Remember?

So yes, there is a difference in what it is that Jesus refers to as “my commandments”…. for they are when followed the means by which one comes to know God, (eternal life).. they are the ones that are recorded to be, when followed, not only evidence of one’s love of God, and Jesus, but the means by which one knows whether or not they believe He spoke what God gave him to speak…. cause after all if you don’t believe that part first… why would anyone follow them???  If you do believe Him and He was sent of God… then what reason would there be in not keeping the commandments that He gave to be followed… to see if they came from God and would bring you to a place in your life to know God … to know the one true God and Jesus Christ… not from “flesh and blood” teachings.. but to actually be taught by God, to hear from God and to learn from God for yourself.  Isn’t that what it was to all be about??

So again when we look to the commandments Jesus gave His followers… we see that they direct His followers to forsake all and put their total and complete trust in God.  How better to know if there is a real God than to do so?  How better to know if one believes those words are from God-given to Christ then to do what they say is to be done for one to be disciple when one believes himself called of God to be a follower of Christ??

Next, we see that Jesus puts it upon each of his followers in those commandments, to take full and complete responsibility for their own actions.  If your eye causes you offense, pluck it out… if your hand causes you offense cut it off… and if you don’t forgive the trespasses of another you will not be forgiven yourself.  Now I don’t know about you… but that surely speaks a different view and understanding of things than what most say and have heard… right?

Next we see that Jesus said to His followers that they were to pray in secret, with the door shut and that God would hear them in secret and reward them openly.  Now how do you suppose that going against that would get someone to knowing that ONE TRUE GOD??

Or what about not doing things to be seen of men… or so that men could see what was being done??  Again … it was all about knowing whether or not God exists, knowing this God and having this God that Jesus was referring to reveal Himself and HIS CHRIST and the power of God in the earth was with man…. to each one for himself/herself…. not as the result of “ye have heard it said”…..

So yes, upon careful examination of the “commandments of God-given by Jesus Christ”… they turn us from so many of the things “ye have heard” and been taught…. when followed, they bring us to the point of knowing the one true God, (eternal life) and realizing again how so much of what it is that we’ve heard and learned and followed is the result of what it is that we have heard from “flesh and blood”…. not from within us… not from what it is that God has said…. and Jesus as well as the prophets say that “all shall be taught by God”… that it those that have heard from God and been taught by God that will come to Christ… and will have “eternal life”… (know Thee, the one true God) … for as Jesus also states…
“no man comes to the Father except by me”… by the same manner in which Jesus did himself… and shared the “way” to do so to others…. and commanded them to go out and teach others to “observe whatsoever I have commanded ye”….

So be encouraged today to revisit the words of Jesus Christ found in the pages of the bible.  See what it is that the bible actually records that Jesus Christ said… and see for yourself what it is that Jesus said God told him to speak… and why!!

For more about being a disciple of Christ according to the bible… check out “What is a Disciple:  The Biblical Perspective”

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, Eternal life, Faith, God, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Knowing, Reconciliation to God | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

“Flesh and Blood has not revealed it unto you”…..

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Denise

Matthew 16: 15-20: (KJV)   “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. ”

Let’s look carefully for a moment what at the profound understanding that this passages shares with us from the bible.  First, we see that this was asked of Peter by Jesus.  Peter a man who had forsaken all to come follow Jesus when he was told “come follow me”.  A man that had been walking with this Jesus after having done so… and yet Jesus is asking him “but who do YOU say that I am”.

We see that Peter responds and what it is that the bible states was Peter’s response.  Then we see that Jesus said “flesh and blood” has not revealed it unto you… that the Father in heaven had done so and that it would be upon this “foundation/rock” that Jesus would build his church that the gates of hell would not prevail against.

So before we move further to see that Jesus told His disciples not to tell anyone who He was… that it was to be revealed to them by the Father… let’s look for a moment at this passage of “flesh and blood” has not revealed it and consider what profound understanding Jesus is sharing here with His disciples.

Have you ever asked yourself where it is that you first heard about God or Jesus?  Was it from “flesh and blood” or was it something that God revealed to you directly?  See this is what Jesus was referring to that was to be the “foundation” or “rock upon which he would build His church that the gates of hell would not prevail against”…. that “foundation” was having God Himself reveal who Christ is…. and for people to come to that understanding from God… not through “flesh and blood”….

If we refer to other passages recorded to have been said by Jesus… they align with this very point being shared with Peter and the reason that we see Jesus telling His disciples that they were NOT to tell anyone else who He was.

Jesus is recorded to have said …….Matthew 11: 27:  “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and [he] to whomsoever the Son will reveal [him].”

So we can see, that according to Jesus it was always to be God Himself that was to reveal who He was, NOT FLESH AND BLOOD…. and yet we can also see that the disciples of Jesus, according to the bible, were told that they were NOT to tell anyone who He was…. and when they were later sent out by Jesus they were given instruction to “teach others to observe whatsoever I have commanded ye”…. not tell people who He was, who God was, etc.

It was in the beginning when man hearkened to the voice of another that was not God, about things pertaining to what God knew, what God would have man to do… that issues between man and God began.  Jesus is shown to have come to reveal that which had been hidden from the foundation of the world… which was that “man was to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”…. not flesh and blood…. and yet where is it that most of us first heard of God, Jesus, the bible… what we are to do… who we are… what it is that we must do to be pleasing to God… our relationship with God, or the lack of it?  Has any of that come to us from the mouth of God…. or “flesh and blood”?

It is through the hearkening to the voice of another is the way in which one takes on “flesh” .. we take on the views, wisdom, understanding, knowledge of those that are “flesh and blood”… and it is also this same “flesh” that must therefore be crucified… for as Paul is recorded to have come to an understanding of…and said to those in Corinth in 1 Cor. 15: 50: .. “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Jesus told his followers… ” the kingdom of God is within you.”… “you cannot serve two masters”… so we can’t be going by what “flesh and blood” has revealed to us and shared with us about God, Jesus or the bible…… it is to come from the kingdom of God that is within….

 

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Compassion, Faith, God, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Reconciliation to God | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

So few trust what Jesus said in the pages of the bible…

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Denise

One of the most profound things that I realized along this journey, even from its beginning, is how little of the words in the bible that most people really trust themselves.  There are a lot of people who claim the bible to be the written words of God… that say that Jesus was the Word that was made flesh, that they believe the bible is a true and accurate account of the words of God, and yet when we carefully look at what the bible records that God gave to Jesus to be spoken, we see a much different picture emerge.  We don’t see the “fruits” per se of what the bible actually states Jesus said being followed and kept by those that say they love Him.

So we have to honestly ask ourselves…. what does one make of a person that would say on one hand all those things we so often hear about Jesus and God and the bible… and then know what the bible says ourselves on those points… and see that we’re not following them… nor are those that claim to believe they are the words of God to His Christ following them.

This was a very difficult thing for me personally to realize.  I too, like most people have done because it’s what one does.. and one often times is required to do to be a part of “Christianity”…. said that the bible is the word of God, and that Jesus is the Son of God, and yet when I sat there face to face with the words of Jesus Christ… able to read them for myself… and seen the pastor of my church teaching against them…. and realizing that I too had lived so much of my life against them…. it wasn’t another person that was being exposed in their hypocrisy to those words and the claims made about them…. it was me, exposing myself, and my own hypocrisy!

Hypocrisy was simple.. it is what one claims for oneself or about oneself and then doesn’t do or live by.  We as a society have always been appalled at those that are hypocrites… those that claim to love us while hurting us… those that claim they can or will do something and then don’t.. or won’t… but the key point of hypocrisy begins with what it is that we “claim” first… what “worship with our lips” that we’re doing… and how far from our own hearts we are from it.

The bible and many other teachings have shared with us for a very long time that as a person thinks in their own hearts, so shall they be.  So when we look to what it is that we’re all “being”… we can see what it is that one thinks in his own heart as well. We can see whether we are being true to ourselves…. or are living a delusion… within ourselves and exposing ourselves to the world in doing so.

Jesus is shown in the pages of the bible to have told his disciples… “judge not”… and so many people seem not to realize what profound understanding came in those two words, as well as so much of the other passages that we find in the bible, and in so many other writings as well.

“Judge not” echoes the same thing “as a man thinketh in his heart so shall he be”… so we don’t have to judge anyone…. nor ourselves… we expose ourselves to ourselves.. and we expose ourselves to others each time that we are not living an authentic life from within ourselves.  Each time we make a claim about something… and are not walking in it ourselves… then we expose ourselves… we don’t have to have someone else judge us… or tell us about it… we KNOW that from within ourselves as well.  Don’t we???

Yet so often when we come to these great realizations… when our eyes are opened to so many of these things…. we want to call them “mistakes” or “sins” and yet are they?  I’ll share a bit more on that point in an upcoming article… that too was an “eye opener” as well…  but for now… let’s focus on what points out how it is that so few trust what is in the bible…. not because they claim they trust it…. not because they say so many things about it…. but because if one does trust what it states.. what it states that the Son of God, the Christ of God said God gave him to speak…. that as so many have said that God has had a personal hand in getting to us today to know ….. then wouldn’t as one thinketh in his heart so shall he be?  If one thinks in his heart those are the words of God to Christ… then wouldn’t one be following them and disciplining his own life according to them??

Sure they would… and when we’re not… then can we really delude ourselves or anyone else by claiming to believe them to be all those things when we are ourselves not following them?

Even Jesus in the pages of the bible states that one is able to find out if the words that He said God gave him to speak were from God or not by doing them.  That is how one finds out if the words in the bible are able to be trusted…. it’s not because someone else has told you those words are the words of God, or that they have to be claimed to be so… it is in the following of them that one comes to know God and to know if they are from God or spoken by God, for it will be GOD that will confirm them… as well as help you to reconcile yourself to what it is that you truly do believe within you…. to that authentic being within… so that you too may know the one true God…. (eternal life according to Jesus).

So I’d encourage each of you reading this blog to read the bible for yourself.  Get yourself a red-letter edition of the bible so that the words of Jesus Christ leap from the pages so as not to miss them or ignore them… and see for yourself what it is that Jesus Christ is recorded to have said that God said to Him was to be done by those that were called to be His disciple…. and what Jesus said that those that love him would do themselves…. whether you’re a professed believer in the bible, God and Jesus or not…. you will be able to see for yourself what is recorded in the “written word of God” and whether you trust them yourself…. or don’t!

But you will also be able to see how it is that compared to what those words say…. that so few trust what is in the pages of the bible…. and how far it is that so many of us have been taught or convinced to reject them and not follow them…. and in doing so have exposed our own hypocrisy!!

Matthew 7:14: “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Rev. 22:14: “Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

 

 

 

Posted in Bible, Christian, Christianity, Faith, God, Jesus, Unity | 7 Comments

What’s next…. the first step in “doing”….

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Denise

As I shared in the articles the other day, “I knew” and “It’s the doing that is difficult”… many are able to see that in most cases we do know what it is that we are to do, but we find ourselves struggling with “what’s next”?

Where do we go now that we realize that we know what it is that we are to do…. but have no clue in how to start doing what it is that we know to do… and how to stop all the struggles and opposition that we see and feel going on inside of us that makes the “doing” so difficult….

So let me share with you a few things to consider as “first steps in doing”…. which is to stop doing!  Now what does that mean I can hear some of you screaming at this point.  Hang in there… I’ll explain that part now…

See what creates the struggles and the difficulty in the “doing” of what it is that we know are the things we see in opposition to the knowing.  It’s all those thoughts and ideas that have come flooding into your thinking as a result of what others will say, what they will think, what they have said or are saying…. most of which are based on “fear” or what causes us to be “afraid”.

We see from the pages of the bible, that the first thing that Adam is shown to have experienced as a result of listening to what someone else told him or said to him was that he was “afraid”…. and yet how did that fear result in his life?

He wasn’t afraid before…. and knowing what you are to do is not what makes any of us afraid… that is what gives us  peace within ….

So what we need to see here is that we have to do as we’d do if we were on a highway driving and realized that we were going in the wrong direction…. the moment you realize it…. you get to a safe place along the highway and you make a U-turn.  Often time you will have to drive down the same highway in the opposite direction a little way, (depending on how far down the road you’ve gone before you realized you’re going in the wrong direction)  to get to the place you made the “wrong” turn.

(Remember though not to focus on how far down the road you’ve gone before realizing you’re going in the wrong direction… be glad you realized it, know what you need to do and are back on track in the right direction!! )

This is the same process…. once you realize that you have allowed the voice of another to influence you, that you’ve taken their opinion and their view of you, your situation, who you are what you are into yourself and have started acting upon it…. you have to change directions… and how is that done.  It is simple… STOP!!  Stop doing what you did.

This is the first thing we all have to do when we’re on the highway and realize we’re going in the wrong direction.  We realize it… and STOP going in that direction.  We stop doing what we just realized was not for us to be doing…. that is the first step!!

Then It is to go back down the highway to the point of where you started going in the wrong direction… when that first word you heard, that you took into yourself.. that you allowed to influence what you thought of your situation or yourself.  The first thought/syllable/word/feeling that caused you to change the direction you KNEW you were to be going in…see how it started what little curve in the road it often times was… or how you were distracted and weren’t paying attention…. and wound up finding yourself going in the wrong direction.

See then when you do this.. not only STOP going in the wrong direction, but turn around and go back down the same highway again…. seeing where you took that wrong turn or missed the path you KNEW…. you not only see what happened, but you can then realize how important it will be as you venture down this highway of life, to pay attention this time so that you don’t miss that first signal..that slight bend in the road… those first words that you heard that you took into yourself that caused you to go in a direction other than what you knew you were to go in.

It’s really that simple… when we can see that any time that we take the opinion and views that someone else has of us, or about our situation into ourselves, it will cause us fear, we’ll be afraid and it will bring on a lot of other emotions… rebellion, anger, hostility, hurt, and the list goes on…. but the reason all of that started… is because we listened and paid attention to what someone else said about us or to us and changed direction in our life according to it rather than what it is that we KNOW for ourselves.

So to take the first step in the “doing” of what one knows within oneself, is to STOP DOING what has been done in the past…. stop taking those other opinions unto yourself, and allowing them to change the direction you’re going in…. and watch for the signals within you each time that someone says something to you…. and simply don’t take it into yourself.

Know who you are… know what it is that you are to do and don’t let anyone else turn you from what you know you’re to do…. and the first step of the “doing” is done!!

Stop doing what you’ve been doing in the past that got you here…. be diligent not to “hearken to the voice of another” now that you see how it all got started in your own life… and reflect on all those times that you KNEW what it was that you were to do… and what caused you difficulties in the “doing” of it… and you’ll see for yourself that the first “doing” was to listen to their opinions of you, your situation,  your position with God, or Jesus, what God thought of you, said about you, and so many other examples that I could continue on sharing here… but the core point is that when we understand how all of this started and starts for each of us…. it is the direct result of “hearkening to the voice of another”…. and the first step in “doing” what we know we are to do… is to simply STOP “hearkening to the voice of another”!!

There would not have been any “transgression” of what Adam knew He was not to do had he simply NOT LISTENED to what someone else said to him and followed what they said rather than what it was that he KNEW!!!

When we stop listening to what the opinions of others are about what we know we are to do…. then we put an end to most of the difficulties in our lives in doing what it is we know we are to do…. and will cease all the striving as well…. cause all of that comes as a result of having “hearkened to the voice of another” and taking into yourself what they say or think rather than what it is that you KNOW!!

Another amazing and profound instruction from the bible that has been there right before most of our eyes for a very long time is the passage that states “woe to the rebellious children, who take counsel but not of God”…. for it is when we rebel against the counsel given within us that we too become rebellious and bring a lot of other mess into our lives..

Be encouraged today … Know who you are… know what you know… and make your day simple…. don’t occupy it with “doing” based on the views and opinions of others…. remember you are a human “BEING”… just BE!!!

Posted in Christian, Compassion, God, Knowing | Tagged , , | 6 Comments