THE FACE OF LOVE CHAPTER 16 APPLYING THE BLOOD
THE FACE OF LOVE
CHAPTER 16
APPLYING THE BLOOD
1 John 5:6This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ--not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth. This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.
Faith is often mistaken for a person's beliefs. When you stand firm in your faith, you will be challenged by those who can only see your opinion, your side of a story, or, perhaps, they cannot see beyond how you look or your status, because, they are unable to see Truth. A Believer has great faith in He whom they know to be Truth. Faith is a substance poured inside of us when the favor of God has shined its Light upon us, enlightening us with His Word and who He is. As we grow in God's love, trusting and obeying, under the Mind of Christ, through the work of Christ Jesus, our faith is increased.
It would be easy to say that faith increases as we see God perform miracles and add blessings to our lives. However, if we look at so many examples given to us through Jesus and scripture, how quickly we forget when God has blessed us and helped us to escape. Didn't the Israelites return to worshipping idols after God had delivered them from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt? Even after seeing Jesus perform miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, and feeding thousands from a small portion of fish and bread, Jesus's own Disciples doubted Him and abandoned Him.
God is looking for true faith within us that has become part of us, guiding us everyday. It's not a matter of choosing to hold on to your faith. Faith goes beyond what we even see or know, because, it is a manifestation of God's power within us generated by our love for Him and our trust in Him. God created us with the ability to have faith. It is His work within us. We often don't think about this, forgetting that we exist because of Him. We feel because of Him. We breathe because of Him. Each new day is because of Him.
Ephesians 2: 8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
As an equipped Saint, you must know the difference between your faith, your beliefs or opinions, and God's Truth. Your faith in God must be founded upon God's Truth and not your belief or opinions. I must repeat that. Your faith in God must be founded upon God's Truth and not your belief or opinions. Therefore, when you are challenged by the world or those of the world, you will not waiver. You can stand firm in God's Truth, because, God's Truth does not change. Great faith stands firm, because, it is rooted in Truth. This is reason to be prepared and equipped.
When someone ask you what or who you believe in, what will you tell them? If they challenge your beliefs, what will you do and say? When the world challenges your beliefs, if you are not equipped with the Armour of God, which is Truth, you will weaken. You will take your eyes off of Jesus. You will become confused by false doctrine and ideology. You will fall into temptation and you will compromise, become discouraged and/or feel shame and defeat. Your pride will rise up and the old man in you will take control, wherein, then, God cannot use you, because, you are filled with self, self-doubt, and depending upon your flesh to do what only God can do.
However, when you know what you know to be Truth, it is not a matter of what you believe, it is a matter of what you know as fact, as God is within you. You are not alone. As Jesus said, His Father is always with Him. This is your proof. The Holy Spirit gives witness. Those who doubt what you say are not doubting or attacking you, they are doubting and attacking God. The battle is not yours, it is the Lord's. Stand firm in your Faith, when others doubt, despise, misuse and abuse you for upholding Truth, Holiness, and Righteousness, for God is applying the Blood.
Romans 8: 16-18
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Faith goes beyond belief, for it has substance. Faith can be held onto and faith can nurture hope to bring hopes, dreams, and visions into fruition so that the unseen becomes visible.
Romans 8:24, 25
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
Although, faith, like hope, cannot be seen by man's naked eye, God can look within us to measure and test our faith. He rewards us according to the amount or measure of faith that we hold. God may look at our faith and count it as righteousness, as He counted Abraham's faith. Faith knows what God has done and knows without doubt what God can and will do. Faith is not an opinion, possibility, or belief. Faith is fact, because, it is based upon God's Truth and Promises. The Word of God says that God is not a man that He should lie. Therefore, faith can stand upon God's promises, because, the stability of His Foundation is solid and the deliverance of His Promises are assured.
Will you waiver and buckle your knees to a world which has no faith in God and cannot be counted as righteous? If you have been equipped to know the Word of God and abide in the Word of God, when you are challenged by the world and the adversary, your anchor holds fast. You continue to bear the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and the humbleness and meekness of Christ. The world's needling and jabbing at your pride is in vain, for you stand firmly in the peace and humility of Christ Jesus.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Ephesians 2:14
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;This alone is reason to be equipped as a Saint, to live daily having died to your flesh and following the Mind of Christ, equipped with God's Armour. Armed and Equipped, you will have Perfect Peace, because, you have Jesus, who is our Peace.
Peace, God's Love, and humility among Believers is key to the unity of The Body of Christ and working together as One. The Body cannot disagree with itself if it wants to function properly. How would it ever be able to take a step and walk or open its mouth and talk, if it was always in disagreement? Men disagree amongst themselves, because, they follow their own mind and not the Mind of Christ, who can show us The Truth, The Way, and The Life. Can it really be that simple? Yes, when pride is removed and we surrender our will to God's Will. Yet, the disagreement among religious institutions today helps us to understand the power of God and why having a relationship with God through Christ Jesus is the only Way by which we come to know and live the true Character and Love of God. As we witness today, many religious institutions have become political tools by which to grab and hold onto power and control the minds of the people. This is stealing God's sheep and attempting to usurp power that belongs to God.
God did not create differing doctrine for man to follow. Man created differing doctrine in order to manipulate and control what he calls religion. God's instructions and laws are very clear. As said in a hymn, we are to Look and live, my Brother live. Look to Jesus now and Live. Tis recorded in His Word, Hallelujah! It is only that you look (to Jesus) and live [I've a message from the Lord, Hallelujah! Author: William A. Ogden (1887)]. Nonetheless, we must have realistic expectations of the world and those who are lost within the world. The enemy has placed them in bondage and confused their minds. They are led by pride and have not ears to hear and rightfully divide the Word of God.
-But, why is there so much division amongst those who call themselves Believers? Why so many differing beliefs and doctrine? What are they Believing on? Are they led by Faith or are they led by the pride of their own mind? Do they have faith in God or themselves? Do they believe and belong to the Kingdom of God, or, do they believe in the kingdom and institutions they have created through their own doctrine and pride? They cannot let go of their beliefs and religious creations because they have made them part of the world to which they cling.
God's Word only becomes confusing to those who are led by pride and/or those who want to apply God's Word to the flesh and love of the world. God's Word only becomes confusing to those who cannot understand that God's Word is a Living Word. Therefore, the Word of God cannot be changed. It does not die. It does not lie. It cannot be compromised or corrupted. It cannot become lost or erased. Why? God's Word is the risen Savior, Yeshua, Christ Jesus. So, yes, every manmade religion, denomination, and sect is centered around and founded upon the pride of man and the inability of those who are of the world to understand who Jesus is and to trust, obey, and love God.
If a Believer knows and understands that they are a part of the Kingdom of God, why must they form their own kingdom or realm of authority, giving it a name, placing it under the bondage of legalism, and exposing it to corruption? If there is one Body of Christ, why do Believers separate themselves from one another under different doctrine, different interpretations of God's Word, different races, political parties, status, and so on? Is there no real desire to love our brother? Or, are we just more comfortable trying to love those who are like us or believe the same things that we believe? Faith is not based upon belief, but, Truth that does not change. It is man who turns his head away from Truth in order to be self-serving and not obey the Word of God.
The answer to division amongst Believers lies in the foundation of the building. Any building built on a foundation other than God, will lack His character. Unless Jesus is lifted up in our daily living and worship, The Truth, The Way, and The Life will not draw all men to us in unity and fellowship in the Light. A place of worship or religion that is founded upon pleasing the world and those of the world cannot please God. -But, won't God take that which has been corrupted and meant for evil and use it for good? Yes, He will and He continues to do so, because, the gateway into His presence is not a building, a religious institution, or, any man, except, Christ Jesus.
Standing firmly in your faith requires one to sometimes stand alone, when the wolf has carried the whole flock away. You may wonder why you are the only one left standing. You may wonder why you were the only one who could see the wolf disguised as a sheep. However, the longer you stand, it begins to become more evident who among those calling themselves Believers are living to please themselves and who is living to please God. God may require you to stand in the midst of darkness, chaos, and confusion, or, in the midst of a storm. As God tests our Faith, we may experience pain and heartache. We may be required to put all that we love and cherish upon the altar to be sacrificed. In order to fulfill His Promises to you, God needs to know where you stand and if you can endure. Do you trust Him to fulfill His Promises and give you abundant and everlasting life, even if you have to endure pain and heartache? If yes, then, stand firm. Be still and know that He is applying The Cleansing and Saving Blood of Jesus.
Perhaps, the separation, or, the division comes about when God applies The Blood of Jesus. Throughout our walk, our tedious journey through life, when we are met on the road by adversity, God is preparing us and testing us. He knows when and if we are ready to truly carry the cross of Jesus, or, if we are simply bystanders along the road, the Via de la Rosa, the road which led Christ to His crucifixion.
We may appear to be sorrowful as Jesus drags the cross, scourged and scorned, but, will we volunteer to help and lighten His load, at great risks? Imagine that we may have been amongst His followers standing along the road side, who hid the fact that we knew Him, or, even mocked and jeered as He staggered by bearing our sins upon His shoulders. When we fail to walk in His shoes, carry His cross, and daily live to please God, we are as guilty as those who did. We disconnect ourselves from His conviction and sentence, for we want to live in a world where we are safe, accepted, and loved. We want our idea of religion to be sweet and carefree. We want to enjoy God's blessing and miracles without friction and chaos from the outside world. How wonderful, we think, that Jesus would sacrifice His life for us. It was so unselfish and loving of Him to do so, but, what does that have to do with the way that we worship God? Isn't praising, thanking God, and giving to the poor enough? It is sad to think that we could possibly feel this way. We may not actually say those words, still, our actions speak loudly. Our unwillingness to please God keeps us away from The Cross.
Some want to represent Jesus as a martyr dangling on a chain around their neck, forcing Him to watch them stumble through life and then at the peak of their tragedy ask, "What would Jesus do?" Yet, had Jesus been their guide, He would have taken them down a different path. Some want to represent Jesus only as a savior to be admired. They don't mind singing about Him and praising Him. They don't mind calling upon Him in their time of need. -But, they are too caught up in needing to be saved, because, they are too busy living life their way to see that the reason God sacrificed His Son was to show them The Truth, The Way, and The Life they should be living to no longer live in darkness, hungry and thirsty waiting for death to come and claim them.
Walk with me through history as the blood of Jesus drips and runs down from His body falling upon the road. It is smeared beneath the feet of the soldiers guarding Him. The pungent smell of blood, sweat, and tears fills the air. -But, what does this have to do with our walk and our idea of religion?
The Purifying Blood of Christ Jesus was shed. What was next for man? Would God have new requests to make of man? What really happens when we go DOWN AT THE CROSS? If you have not been to the cross, then, you wouldn't know. Does that sound ridiculous? Wait...perhaps, your journey has not taken you there, yet, because you've ventured down another path in life outside of God's Will and plan for your life. Perhaps, God knows that you aren't ready, yet. Still, you need to know what happens Down at The Cross where Jesus died. You need to know the rest of the story that involves you continuing the work of Jesus. This is why His life-changing blood was spilled for us, not that it could be trampled upon by His enemies, but, so that it would give new life to those who believed on His name, as the Living Word, and that He is the Son of God.
1 John 5:6
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ--not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth. This is the one who came by water and blood--Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.
BECOMING A LIVING SACRIFICE
Our walk is not only about the showing of our faith by being baptized and plunged beneath the water. To show our Faith, God must apply The Blood of Jesus. If we are to be living vessels filled with the Holy Ghost, we must be purged of that which is unholy and unpleasing to God. This requires us to be washed in The Saving Blood of Jesus, as well as His Water which gives us New Life.
As we share in the burden of the cross, we must not be dismayed. Although, we tire, we must not lose hope, for, God will bring us through. As God applies The Blood, each step we take strengthens us. Each time, He knows how much we can bear. We must allow Him to remove the dross, that which is impure, so that we will come forth shining like pure gold. Glory to God!
Throughout God's Word, we have watched Him apply sacrificial blood to atone for sin. -But, was that the only purpose it has served? The act of drawing blood requires certain behaviors and a particular state of mind. It requires seeing the life leave out of a once healthy animal. It requires setting aside, nurturing, and giving God your best. We see this in God's expectations from Cain and Abel, the children of Adam and Eve. God expected Cain and Abel to give Him the best fruits of their labor. Because of the selfishness of his heart, Cain could not understand this and instead of changing his heart, he became jealous and hateful toward his brother whose heart led him to love God and give of his best out of the love that poured from his heart.
Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden, began our atonement for sin. Through pain and labor, Eve and all women would have to shed blood to bring children into the world. Cast out of the Garden of Eden, God no longer provided everything for Adam and Eve, therefore, they found new hardships, toil, and danger. Until the coming of the second Adam, Adam would forever render blood sacrifices to atone for man's sins.
Abraham's faith was tested, when God told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Yet, seeing that Abraham was indeed faithful and put all of his trust in his Heavenly Father, God showed him a ram in a bush to sacrifice instead. God does not require human sacrifice, but, instead applies The Cleansing Blood of Truth, which searches and cleanses the heart for that which does not please Him. Yet, the heart and mind of man is not like Gods. What does God do when we try to sacrifice others, not for Him, but, for our own desires and because of the evil and malice within our heart?
Let us look at the example of the sons of Jacob who tried to sacrifice their brother, Joseph. Joseph was left for dead by his jealous brothers, then, sold to merchants. Joseph had the favor of God. Therefore, God took what was meant for evil and turned it into good. Joseph became a leader in Egypt and the benefactor for his family when drought and famine had seized the land. Joseph could have hardened his heart against his brothers, but, God had applied The Cleansing Blood of Truth through the trials and tribulations Joseph endured while enslaved. Therefore, Joseph's heart was not set for vengeance against his brothers, but, instead it was changed with love to please God.
Having heard of the enslaved Israelite's expectations of a coming messiah, who would be their savior, pharaoh knew this messiah would be a threat to him and his kingdom. Pharaoh decreed that all of the male babies of the Israelites must be killed, slaughtered. Unbeknownst to him, the mother of Moses saved his life by putting him in a basket and placing him in the river--a basket that would ironically be found by pharaoh's daughter, who chose to keep Moses and raise him as her own son. Later, when the Hand of God moves and God reveals to Moses his true heritage and uses him to set His people, the Israelites free, pharaoh's own first born son becomes the blood sacrifice and the price to pay for his brazen defiance and audacity to war against God.
King David's sins required him to be cleansed through blood sacrifice, in the death of his son by Bathsheba, a woman whose husband he had killed in battle, in order to have her for himself. Our sins neither go unnoticed by God, nor are we unaccountable for them. There is always a price to pay and an atonement that must be made. We can thank Jesus for having paid it all with the sacrifice of His life and the shedding of His blood.
Although, we know these true stories, we must remind ourselves of them, because, daily, we are met with adversity that tries our heart. We must remind ourselves that God is always in control and good will always prevail over evil. We must be a living example of The Blood Applied, having come to not just know, but, to live God's Conquering Truth. Through each example given to us in scripture, we see the subject strengthened, when God applies His cleansing Truth. Yet, it will be the Cleansing Blood of Christ Jesus which will seal God's Promise to forgive man's sins to make him worthy of redemption, as well as new and everlasting life. Jesus is The Blood Applied.
As we go through trials and tribulations, if we rest and abide in Jesus, patterning our lives after His to please God, our Father, God is applying His sacrificial blood to cleanse and strengthen us. We must not ask or worry about why we are faced with adversity, instead, we must focus on how we endure the challenge. Are we following the Mind of Christ, trying to please God and allowing Him to apply Christ's cleansing blood that will enlighten and strengthen us, or, are we resisting, only to be devoured by darkness?
When God asks us to give and sacrifice our best and even that which we love the most, will we obey and pass His test? When Jesus asks, "Do you love me more than these," will our love be unconditional (agape) love? Then, what will we do for Him? Will we become a living sacrifice, following Him, carrying His cross, and giving up our lives to live for Him and His Kingdom, while we serve God, our Father? Do we live life as if sacrificing and following Jesus was only for His twelve disciples? Can we endure the pain of rejection and being misunderstood? Will God provide a ram in the bush for us because of our faithfulness?
Why am I asking these questions? -Because, day-to-day, we put ourselves before God, yet, claim that He is the head of our life. We complain about the state of the nation and the state of the world. Yet, we ignore the commission of our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus, to go out and make disciples in all nations. We separate ourselves by divisive and polarizing issues, refusing to love others as we love ourselves. Therefore, my Brothers and Sisters, I am your keeper. I want the best for you. I want you to know our Father and enjoy abundant and everlasting life. Why? -Because, I have a thirst and a love for holiness and righteousness and God's love. His love within me compels me to love you as Jesus loves you. How do I know this? God has taken me beyond belief into knowing the Truth, The Way, and The Life. I invite you along this wondrous and magnificent journey. God bless you.
your soldier and servant, by the Grace and Mercy of God and the sacrifice of His Son, Christ Jesus
Mishael
Comments
Post a Comment