What do I use to Buy from God?

Rev 3:18 Buy gold from God.

What do I have to offer God? What may I use to purchase gold, clothes and eye slave from Him?

My life consists of time, money people, and talents.
Keep in mind that even when I have an abundance my life does not consist of possessions. Luke 12:15
What do I have that God wants? God wants my heart. If He has that, He will have my attention, service, obedience, prayers. possessions, repentant heart and a life of following Jesus.

So the short answer of what currency I use to buy from God, is to give Him my heart. The currency of God's kingdom is love.

How do I give Jesus my heart in love? Salvation is the short answer. But salvation is not just a confession but a life. Eternal life starts at salvation. Life is more than birth. To live in this salvation is to live in the eternal life, which God has for me.

In buying from God I must learn not only ask God to meet my needs but also come to Him willingly to serve as He directs. As I come to Him, I will receive direction which brings faith to my spirit. Faith is the means by which I am able to please God. Faith comes from a relationship with Him. Faith alone is not enough. Faith united with love for God will be effective in God's kingdom.

I have struggled in obeying God's direction. It sometimes means I need to cut things out of my life to give room for what God wants me to do. If I have been purchased by God. (Jesus purchased me with His own blood. Acts 20:28) I am not my own. So to live in reality and not rebellion is to submit to God and do what He has prepared for me. I am coming to understand life in the spirit, is not as a duty, but a life lived in love to Jesus.

Part of my work is to believe. Part of my work is to love. Part of my work is to pray. Part of my work is to act in faith.
Live for the purpose of Jesus and not mine. Follow Jesus. Is it what He did or what He said and says? I think its all three. I am to follow the example of those who go before me, that produce a Godly outcome. I should follow Jesus both in what He has written and what He guides by the Holy Spirit. And His life style. I should consider it by the direction of the Holy Sprint.

Revelation 3:18

I have been meditating on Revelation 3:17,18

"Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see."

My meditation is accomplished by writing Bible studies.

I was working on this last year and was led to finish it.

There are 10 points to v. 18

#God advises us
#buy from God
#buy gold
#refined by fire
#become rich
#buy white garments
#clothe yourself
#cover shame of nakedness
#buy eye salve to anoint eyes
#eyes to see


#God advises us
If Jesus advises us to do something, it would make sense to follow that advice.
The Bible is God's advice to man. Study to show yourself approved. 1 Tim Listen to God and He will give you what is good to eat. Isa 55

I am looking into this verse because of the tendency of my life to mirror the aspect of being lukewarm. I don't want to be lukewarm, I desire to follow God fully. If that entails a complete life change than so be it. I desire to be a follower of Jesus and not just a also ran Christian that doesn't do anything but the expected.

I will put more of these on as I finish them.

Feed Yourself Spiritually

I searched the Internet on feeding yourself spiritually. These are some of the articles that came up. A mature Christian should be able to feed himself. Why do people say they need to be fed spiritually at church? It is because they are not being responsible for themselves.

Let us not be foolish but learn what the will of God is. Eph 5:17


How to Feed Yourself Spiritually
AUTHOR: Rev J.A.McBean Sr
Badly written, but good ideas.

People must be more responsible for their own life.
# SPIRITUAL INFANCY = Getting Fed
# SPIRITUAL ADOLESCENCE = Feeding Yourself
# SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD = Feeding Others

Spiritual Maturity
Make a choice to learn God's word.
Make a choice to live by God's viewpoint.
Learn to walk in the Holy Spirit's control.
Make a choice to live in the promises of God.

The Cost of Discipleship

Count the Cost
Luke 14:28-33
Matt 16:25,26

Know the Cost
Phil 3:7-9

From Carnal to Christian
Colossians 3:9,10
2 Cor 5:17
1 Cor 2:14
Rom 8:7
Eph 2:3
Col 1:21,22
1 John 2:15,16

Disciple of Christ
Stewardship and repentance
We manage God's property (us) according to His will.

Test Your Heart
Constantly check your heart.
2 Cor 13:5
Take inventory of what gives you the highs and lows of your life.
This will give an indication of what your driving purpose of your life.
Rom 7:18 - 8:14 explain we can't change our heart without Christ.

Alan Hirsch’s book The Forgotten Ways

Here is one of my studies on a Plan for Devotional Bible Study.
Here is an article on Waiting on the Lord.

Sowing and Reaping

God is my source web page devoted to this subject.

Article on how Todd Baily came to the revelation that God is his source.

David Bostick wrote on this subject.

God is our source: article from Oral Roberts U.

Here is an outline on God is our source.

These God is our source articles could lead people astray if they only consider being rich as from God. God calls some to sickness for a time (the man at the pool of Bethesda and Job) and some to a life of poverty for a while (Job). Jesus asked Peter to die for Him. And Paul wrote Phil 4:19 from a jail cell. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but God delivers them out of them all. Let us not look at our circumstances to decided if we are in God's will. Let us look to Jesus and follow Him wherever He leads us.

Because of the miss use of the teaching of sowing and reaping, many will not teach sowing and reaping. This is a shame because this is part of the life of faith. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water! God wants us to walk by faith not by sight (circumstances). A life of faith is not easy, but it IS rewarding. It IS exciting. And it IS life in the Spirit. It is a life abandoned to service of God without thought to the lusts of the flesh.

Are we willing to deny ourselves, suffer and die for the sake of the gospel? Are we ready to endure persecution? Let us keep our eyes on Jesus and the problems of this world will pale compared to the rewards of following Jesus.

Let us endure the trials that come our way to receive the crown of righteousness that allows us to have victory over the trials. James 1:12. Our faith is built on going through the trails. Faith, it is true, comes from hearing the Bible, but when we truly hear, we will speak and obey. Trials prove our faith. And strengthen our faith.

A Choice between the World and Jesus

Here are some verses and my thoughts on the world in the Bible.

James 4:4 Friendship with the world = hostility toward God.
We have to make a choice between Jesus and the world. If we die to ourselves and advancement, we are able to serve God. That is good. If we serve God and also advance in this world that is good also. But let us not compromise to advance. Let Jesus be the prize and not a better paying position.

James 1:27 Keep oneself unstained by the world.
To be in the world but not of the world. When I think of being stained I think of compromise.

Ephesians 2:2 Dead in sin according to the course of this world.
According to the prince; power of the air.
Spirit working in the sons of disobedience.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
v 16For all that is the world:
- lust of the flesh
- lust of the eyes
- boastful pride of life.
The things in the world are defined by v16.
Lust of the flesh - what we desire. Food, sex, liqueur and drugs and a good time.
Lust of the eyes. Women, material possessions, greed.
Boastful pride of life. Power, prestige, position.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world.
Let Jesus teach us through the Bible for how to live not the dictates of the world.

Matthew 13:22 Worry of the world.
Live for the purpose of Jesus and not to maintain a position in the world.

2 Corinthians 4:4 God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.
When we choose the world over Jesus we are siding with Satan. If we love the world and what it has to offer over what Jesus is calling us to do we do not love God. 1 John 2:15

Galatians 6:14 Boast of the cross of Jesus to be crucified to the world.
The cross is rejecting what the world offers.

There is a freedom in serving Jesus and not trying to keep up with the status quo.

Lord Jesus let me keep my eye on you and not turn to the world for my fulfillment.

Spurgeon on Prayer

If you listen to mp3 sermons, this is a good one.

Kingdom of Heaven Suffers Violence

Kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.
Matt 11:12

How do men use violence to attain the kingdom? Through many tribulations we will inherit the kingdom of God. It is by enduring trials correctly allows us to access the kingdom. And by enduring correctly these trials we gain the crown of righteousness.

I have thought and been taught that prayer is the violence. Yet James 1:12 shows that it is enduring trials. Looking unto Jesus in prayer in the midst of the trial. If we can see Jesus during trials and let His peace and love flow to us, we've got pay dirt.

The kingdom is not enjoyed with the wealth of the world. It is not physical or can be seen. It is relational.

Knowledge is not the basis of spiritual growth. It is relationships. Love is with relationships not knowledge. Knowledge is important but its not the foundation. Strength does not come from understanding. Strength comes from exercise. Both physical and spiritual.

Our relationship with Jesus fuels our relationship with others. The more we have of Jesus, the more we are able to reach out to others from the kingdom of God, instead of from our own strength!

Trials show us what is of our strength and what is from God. Trials teach us to rely on Jesus and not ourselves. John 16:33 Peace comes from Jesus in the trial as we rely on Him!

No peace, no Jesus, no kingdom of God.

In ages past some have accepted trials as the means of gain. The scripture says that we gain the kingdom through trials not in them. It is through the trial. We take the kingdom by force by going through the trial in obedience. And what is our obedience? It is to walk by prayer and faith, looking unto Jesus. Col 2:6

2Pt 1 talks of living according to the promises.It is by the promises that we gain the true nature. The promises don't talk about being sick or living in defeat. It is our use of the promises to live through the trial that allows us to have victory. Paul was content in Jail! Our circumstances don't dictate our spirituality.

Isa 52:1 awake and put on your strength