“IF THEN?”

 Colossians 3:1-4

Put On the New Self

“[1] “IF THEN” you have been raised with CHRIST, seek the things that are above, WHERE CHRIST IS, seated at the right hand of GOD. [2] SET YOUR MINDS on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. [3] For you have died, and your life is hidden with CHRIST in GOD. [4] When CHRIST WHO is your life appears, then you also will appear with HIM in glory.”

The words SET YOUR MINDS can carry more meaning than we understand, especially when we SEE WHO we have become IN CHRIST!  Knowing that we are NEW CREATIONS in HIM brings a NEW MAN to action, a different kind of creation that is changed from the “old man”!  Realizing and accepting that it is ONLY the work of CHRIST that is worthy to be celebrated is something that we MUST acknowledge, not deeming ourselves worthy because of our Holiness.  Knowing that HE is to be recognized, NOT US, is key to understanding our mission in this world.  

We don’t have anything to be PROUD about as we live out the time we are Blessed with, especially since JESUS entered our lives.  We don’t deserve to even be left here on earth to proclaim CHRIST to others, but that is HIS PLAN and I am not wise enough to question that.  Knowing that we are simply HIS tools to further HIS WORK should be worth it for us, even though we simply are left to perform HIS PLAN by FAITH!

“IF THEN” we are left here for a purpose, it might behoove us to try to walk as closely to HIS WORD as possible?  We don’t have forever to serve HIM, so why do we try to amass wealth or fame when JESUS is our focal point?  It might be wise for us to remind ourselves AT LEAST DAILY that we are simply tools to be used by THE CREATOR to honor and glorify HIM.  “IF THEN” we are HIS, why are we trying to do that which “this world” honors?  Maybe we should consider these things more frequently???

“PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!”

1 Thessalonians 5:12-22                               (ESV)

“[12] We ask you, brothers, to RESPECT THOSE WHO LABOR AMONG YOU and are over you in the LORD and admonish you, [13] and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. BE AT PEACE AMONG YOURSELVES. [14] And WE URGE YOU, brothers, ADMONISH THE IDLE, ENCOURAGE THE FAINTHEARTED, HELP THE WEAK, BE PATIENT WITH THEM ALL. [15] See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. [16] Rejoice always, [17] “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING”, [18] give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS for you. [19] Do not quench the SPIRIT. [20] Do not despise prophecies, [21] but TEST EVERYTHING; hold fast what is good. [22] ABSTAIN from every form of EVIL.”

Asking for help is never easy, especially when we are thought to be of sound mind and body.  Doing what “we think” is the right thing to do can be precisely what we don’t need to do, while doing that which makes “no sense” can be the precise way out of the situation we find ourselves in.   Our personal wisdom alone is not enough when our goal is to be SPIRIT led!

We have a number of “things” that we must do to fulfill our SPIRITUAL duties.  RESPECT THOSE WHO LABOR AMONG YOU, BE AT PEACE AMONG YOURSELVES, ADMONISH THE IDLE, ENCOURAGE THE FAINTHEARTED, HELP THE WEAK, and BE PATIENT WITH THEM ALL!  These are only a few of the things that we are to do to fulfill what GOD has for us to fulfill.  

But “the main thing” is to “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING”!  We are not “smart enough” to serve every need, we don’t have enough money to solve every problem we see, we don’t have the Spiritual maturity to SEE every situation where others might be hurting, but we DO HAVE the ability to “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING”!  

ALMIGHTY GOD never takes a break and HE is never without an answer to life’s problems.  As Believers, we are instructed to “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING” for GODS guidance and mercy to be delivered to we that are in need.  The more we SEE things AS THEY TRULY ARE, the more we understand that we NEED GOD to even be able to breathe (Isaiah 42:5)!  Doesn’t it make sense to “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING” when ONLY GOD is able to do that???

“AND KNOW!”

 Psalm 46:10                   (ESV)

    “[10] “BE STILL, “AND KNOW” THAT I AM GOD.

        I will be exalted among the nations,

        I will be exalted in the earth!””

Just because we move slower than the rest of “this world” doesn’t mean that we are IN TUNE with our CREATOR!  Sometimes I NEED to intentionally BE STILL, “AND KNOW” that while I do serve our CREATOR, my ways are NOT HIS WAYS!!!

“NOT WORTH COMPARING!”

 Romans 8:18                              (ESV)

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time ARE NOT WORTH COMPARING with the Glory THAT IS TO BE REVEALED TO US.”

“THE CORNERSTONE!”

Acts 4:5-12                                   (ESV)

“[5] On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, [6] with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. [7] And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” [8] Then Peter, filled with the HOLY SPIRIT, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, [9] if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, [10] let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom GOD raised from the dead—by HIM this man is standing before you well. [11] This JESUS is the STONE that was REJECTED BY YOU, the builders, which has become “THE CORNERSTONE”. [12] And there is salvation in no one else, for there is NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN GIVEN AMONG MEN by which we must be saved.””

Painting has never been something that I was blessed with.  Maybe it is the patience or attention to detail, I simply don’t have what is needed to be able to express myself adequately through artwork.  There are many names, ways, or things that various people try to inject into our lives to satisfy what many SEE as necessary.  Wealth, activities, physical health, power or position, and the list could on indefinitely, tend to consume our minds as we endeavor to succeed in “this world”.  

But “this world” is NOT our eternal destination.  Our conversations and mindsets hardly ever are about where we will spend our eternity, as if our existence on earth is our destiny?  But JESUS CHRIST is “THE CORNERSTONE” that EVERYTHING in life should be built around.  Not illnesses, nor family, nor earthly possessions, ALL of which are temporary and WILL cease to be in the end!  

So why are we so easily convinced place worldly “things” ahead of the HEAVENLY things?  Our “natural” beings simply aren’t equipped to SEE the ETERNAL TRUTHS unless our EYES ARE OPENED supernaturally by the ONLY ONE WHO is capable of doing so.  “THE CORNERSTONE” is the ONLY WAY our entire lives will ever be able to understand what we need to for HIS GLORY!  We are incapable of removing guilt and sins from our past.  Only JESUS is able to do that!

Peter was a poor fisherman prior to JESUS opening his EYES.  He was used in a mighty way for the GLORY of GOD, but most definitely NOT the way Peter might have imagined?  Our lives are NOT to be lived as though we “have all of the answers”.  We are to WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT and rely on “THE CORNERSTONE” to deliver our needs, not ourselves!

“HE WOULD WITHDRAW!”

Luke 5:12-16                                        (ESV)

JESUS Cleanses a Leper

[12] While HE was in one of the cities, there came A MAN FULL OF LEPROSY. And when he saw JESUS, he fell on his face and begged him, “LORD, if YOU will, YOU can make me clean.” [13] And JESUS stretched out HIS hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. [14] And HE charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” [15] But now even more the report about HIM went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear HIM and TO BE HEALED OF THEIR INFIRMITIES . [16] But “HE WOULD WITHDRAW” to DESOLATE PLACES and PRAY.”

“This world” is seemingly always trying to get we who have been CHOSEN to become caught up in the narrative that we must be celebrated for what we are allowed to accomplish during our brief sojourn on earth.  Although our journey here is generally less than 100 years, the time JESUS physically spent on earth was 33 years, with only three years ministering to “the imperfect”.  In the passage of Scripture above, JESUS brought HEALING to A MAN FULL OF LEPROSY, then went into isolation to PRAY.  

Now we KNOW that JESUS never sinned, therefore the need for repentance didn’t exist.  But Scripture is replete mentioning “HE WOULD WITHDRAW” and PRAY!  In just over three years, JESUS would remove HIMSELF from the busyness of “this world”, yet we act as though we have no need (or worse, no desire!) to be alone with our CREATOR.  We have to KNOW that we NEED to be “regenerated” from ABOVE, but we FAIL to GET ALONE WITH GOD and allow HIM time to PURIFY as ONLY HE can!  Why can’t we SEE the the NEED like JESUS was SEEING???

As previously stated, it is very often that “HE WOULD WITHDRAW” from HIS ministerial duties, not to get away from the demands of others, but to replenish HIS SPIRIT.  JESUS and GOD are ONE (John 10:30) and if “HE WOULD WITHDRAW” was necessary for HIM, shouldn’t it be EVEN MORE necessary for us?  We MUST HAVE a filling of the HOLY SPIRIT to operate IN THE SPIRIT!  

FATHER IN HEAVEN, cause me to SEE more clearly that when JESUS was going to be used by YOU, “HE WOULD WITHDRAW” as HE did in John 17!  OPEN MY EYES to SEE!!!

“I WILL BE THEIR GOD!”

Ezekiel 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

[1] The HAND of the LORD was upon me, and HE brought me out in the SPIRIT of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. [2] And HE led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. [3] And HE said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O LORD GOD, you know.” [4] Then HE said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. [5] Thus says the LORD GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. [6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and YOU SHALL LIVE, and YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.”

[7] So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. [8] And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. [9] Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the LORD GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” [10] So I prophesied as HE commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

[11] Then HE said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ [12] Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O MY people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. [13] And YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. [14] And I will put MY SPIRIT within you, and YOU SHALL LIVE, and I will place you in your own land. Then YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD; I HAVE SPOKEN, and I WILL DO IT, declares the LORD.”

I Will Be Their GOD; They Shall Be MY People

[15] The WORD of the LORD came to me: [16] “Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ [17] And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. [18] And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ [19] say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. [20] When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, [21] then say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. [22] And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. [23] They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and “I WILL BE THEIR GOD”.

[24] “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. [25] They shall dwell in the land that I gave to MY servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David MY servant shall be their prince forever. [26] I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set MY sanctuary in their midst forevermore. [27] MY dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their GOD, and they shall be MY people. [28] Then the nations will know that I AM THE LORD WHO sanctifies Israel, when MY sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.””

It is very seldom that I use an entire chapter of SCRIPTURE as focal passages, but today I am led by THE SPIRIT to do precisely that!  “I WILL BE THEIR GOD” wasn’t a conditional Promise, rather a WORD to those whose EYES and EARS were open to TRUTH!!!