When we are
born of the Holy Ghost and enter into the
Kingdom of God, we become a new creation, a new
man, (person) who is reconciled to our Heavenly
Father, through Christ Jesus. As a new man we
can struggle with the old nature, even when we
think we have taken it off and put on Christ.
Such experiences remind us of who we were in the
flesh; the nature Christ took within HimSelf at
Calvary and brought to death, that is trying to
resurrect itself, usually through the lust of
the flesh, lust of the eye and the pride of
life. Writings left to us as Holy Scripture
admonish those who have been changed by the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to reckon
ourselves dead; to recognize we died with Christ
to sin and were raised with Him to newness of
life, as eternal Spiritual Beings. We become hid
in Him as an aspect of the body of Christ, and
thus through our spiritual union, we are
anointed to let go of that which would hinder
our spiritual growth. This takes place with the
renewing of the Spirit of our mind through HIS
living word, as the Spirit of Christ abiding in
us.
There is no condemnation in these struggles, for
they are the perfect circumstances the Holy
Spirit knows we need to cause us to grow in
Spirit and Truth, as we become who we are
created to Be hid with Christ in God, through
our Heavenly Father's manifested plan. As we
grow, day by day, we become increasingly aware
we live and move and have our being through Him,
as His offspring; as Overcomers through the
resurrected power of Christ within.
For some, the struggles and the trials of life
can cause us to feel like we might loose
touch with the peace of God which surpasses ALL
understanding. Thoughts come in which tempt some
to doubt. Perhaps you can relate? If so, perhaps
you too can thank the good Lord for keeping us,
with a KNOWING that has to be experienced as our
reality so we can give witness to the truth His
Holy Spirit within has caused His peace to rise
up strong, as His living words remind us of His
Truth and overcoming power, through bringing it
to remembrance with an awareness of His abiding
Presence.
As I have walked out my salvation with the power
of God upon me, with the light of scripture
transforming my inner man and restoring my soul,
over the years, my Spiritual experiences have
taught me:
The Peace of God which surpasses all
understanding is a state of BEing ... this state
of Being imparts peace deep within that is alive
and expanding; no matter what is taking place
about us, even if we don't feel it in our
moments of struggle, it is available and rises
up as we draw nigh to the Spirit of the Lord.
Ultimately, His Peace causes us to abide in
Christ and His living words and His promises to
us once we choose to believe and embrace the
gift of faith and spiritual obedience that
is offered through unconditional love.
Conflicts which contradict His Truth, cause us
to labor to enter into God's REST and to draw
upon the gift of Peace and eternal life which
overcomes that which sought to drain us of an
awareness of HIS abiding Presence within and in
our midst, bringing forth that which has been
revealed as HIS truth unfolding before our
opened mind and ears.
As we draw upon it, His Spirit within speaks, as
the mind of Christ through the living Words of
Christ Jesus. A greater level of peace is
manifested empowering the union of our eternal
Spirits to GROW in Spirit and truth with an
understanding, ALL is working out for the good
as an aspect of our maturation process. These
struggles are necessary and a form of
purification which transforms our inner man and
causes us to walk victorious ... in the Spirit
and not after the flesh.
What a tremendous gift we have been given
through the opportunities to experience and
receive the Truth, Peace, Joy, Righteousness,
Presence and Revelation of God!!! If you have
not yet done so, do seek to receive and
grow, as you put your trust in who our Heavenly
Father is manifesting HimSelf, His eternal plan
to be in relationship to us and who we are
becoming in relationship to Him as spiritual
eternal Beings ... as His Inheritance, the
family of the True and Living God.
Below are some Scriptures the Holy Spirit
brought to mind as I wrote. May they bring life
and it more abundantly to those seeking it and
refreshing to those in need of it:
John
14:17: Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I
now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world
gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts
be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop
allowing yourselves to be agitated and
disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be
fearful and intimidated and cowardly and
unsettled.]
Matthew 6:33: But seek (aim at and strive after)
first of all His kingdom and His righteousness,
(His way of doing and being right), and then all
these things taken together will be given you
besides.
John 3:5: Jesus answered, I assure you, most
solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of
water and [even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever]
enter the kingdom of God.
Luke 11:2: And He said to them, When you pray,
say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be
Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done
[held holy and revered] on earth as it is in
heaven.
Romans 14:17: [After all] the kingdom of God is
not a matter of [getting the] food and drink
[one likes], but instead it is righteousness
(that state which makes a person acceptable to
God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.
John 3:3: Jesus answered him, I assure you, most
solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is
born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever
see (know, be acquainted with, and experience)
the kingdom of God.
Luke 17:21: Nor will people say, Look! Here [it
is]! or, See, [it is] there! For behold, the
kingdom of God is within you [in your
hearts] and among you [surrounding you].
Philippians 4:7: And God's peace [shall be
yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of
its salvation through Christ, and so fearing
nothing from God and being content with its
earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that
peace] which transcends all understanding shall
garrison and mount guard over your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any person is [ingrafted]
in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a
new creature altogether); the old [previous
moral and spiritual condition] has passed away.
Behold, the fresh and new has come!.
Colossians 3:3: For [as far as this world is
concerned] you have died, and your [new, real]
life is hidden with Christ in God.
1 John 3:24: All who keep His commandments [who
obey His orders and follow His plan, live and
continue to live, to stay and] abide in Him, and
He in them. [ They let Christ be a home to them
and they are the home of Christ.] And by this we
know and understand and have the proof that He
[really] lives and makes His home in us: by the
[Holy] Spirit Whom He has given us.
John 15:7: If you live in Me [abide vitally
united to Me] and My words remain in you and
continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever
you will, and it shall be done for you.
1 John 2:16: For all that is in the world--the
lust of the flesh [craving for sensual
gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy
longings of the mind] and the pride of life
[assurance in one's own resources or in the
stability of earthly things]--these do not come
from the Father but are from the world [itself].
John 16:27: For the Father Himself [tenderly]
loves you because you have loved Me and have
believed that I came out from the Father.
Ephesians 2:22-24: Strip yourselves of your
former nature [put off and discard your old
unrenewed self] which characterized your
previous manner of life and becomes corrupt
through lusts and desires that spring from
delusion; And be constantly renewed in the
spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and
spiritual attitude], And put on the new nature
(the regenerate self) created in God's image,
[Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.
Romans 6:3-11: Are you ignorant of the fact that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death? We were
buried therefore with Him by the baptism into
death, so that just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father,
so we too might [habitually] live and behave in
newness of life. For if we have become one with
Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also
be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection
[by a new life lived for God]. We know that our
old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross
with Him in order that [our] body [which is the
instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and
inactive for evil, that we might no longer be
the slaves of sin. For when a man dies, he is
freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of]
sin [among men]. Now if we have died with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, Because we know that Christ (the Anointed
One), being once raised from the dead, will
never die again; death no longer has power over
Him. For by the death He died, He died to sin
[ending His relation to it] once for all; and
the life that He lives, He is living to God [in
unbroken fellowship with Him]. Even so consider
yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to
it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken
fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
Acts 17:28: For in Him we live and move and have
our being; as even some of your [own] poets have
said, For we are also His offspring
John 14:15-18: If you [really] love Me, you will
keep (obey) My commands. And I will ask the
Father, and He will give you another Comforter
(Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate,
Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain
with you forever-- The Spirit of Truth, Whom the
world cannot receive (welcome, take to its
heart), because it does not see Him or know and
recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him,
for He lives with you [constantly] and will be
in you. I will not leave you as orphans
[comfortless, desolate, bereaved, forlorn,
helpless]; I will come [back] to you.
2 Corinthians 5:18: But all things are from God,
Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to
Himself [received us into favor, brought us into
harmony with Himself] and gave to us the
ministry of reconciliation [that by word and
deed we might aim to bring others into harmony
with Him].
Romans 8:1: THEREFORE, [there is] now no
condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for
those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and]
walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but
after the dictates of the Spirit.
Colossians 1:20-22: And God purposed that
through by the service, the intervention of) Him
[the Son] all things should be completely
reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or
in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made
peace by means of the blood of His cross. And
although you at one time were estranged and
alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude
of mind in your wicked activities, Yet now has
[Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in
the body of His flesh through death, in order to
present you holy and faultless and
irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence.
Romans 5:10: For if while we were enemies we
were reconciled to God through the death of His
Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are
reconciled, that we shall be saved (daily
delivered from sin's dominion) through His [
resurrection] life.
1 John 4:4: Little children, you are of God [you
belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and
overcome them [the agents of the antichrist],
because He Who lives in you is greater
(mightier) than he who is in the world.
Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to this world
(this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its
external, superficial customs], but be
transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of
your mind [by its new ideals and its new
attitude], so that you may prove [for
yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and
perfect will of God, even the thing which is
good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight
for you].
John 16:13: But when He, the Spirit of Truth
(the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide
you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth).
For He will not speak His own message [on His
own authority]; but He will tell whatever He
hears [from the Father; He will give the message
that has been given to Him], and He will
announce and declare to you the things that are
to come [that will happen in the future].
John 4:23: A time will come, however, indeed it
is already here, when the true (genuine)
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and
in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking
just such people as these as His worshipers.
Hebrews 4:11: Let us therefore be zealous and
exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter
that rest [of God, to know and experience it for
ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by
the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into
which those in the wilderness fell].
2 Timothy 1:14: Guard and keep [with the
greatest care] the precious and excellently
adapted [Truth] which has been entrusted [to
you], by the [help of the] Holy Spirit Who makes
His home in us.
Jude 1:23-25: [Strive to] save others, snatching
[them] out of [the] fire; on others take pity
[but] with fear, loathing even the garment
spotted by the flesh and polluted by their
sensuality. Now to Him Who is able to keep you
without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to
present [you] unblemished (blameless and
faultless) before the presence of His glory in
triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable,
ecstatic delight] To the one only God, our
Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory
(splendor), majesty, might and dominion, and
power and authority, before all time and now and
forever (unto all the ages of eternity). Amen
(so be it).
Romans 8:28: We are assured and know that [ God
being a partner in their labor] all things work
together and are [fitting into a plan] for good
to and for those who love God and are called
according to [His] design and purpose
Philippians 2:13: [Not in your own strength] for
it is God Who is all the while effectually at
work in you [energizing and creating in you the
power and desire], both to will and to work for
His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
Bless You Father ... may our lives
be an act of worship as we surrender to YOU and
Your manifested will as a expression of love
returned. |
|