Monday, February 16, 2009

Spiritual Revelation

Revelation of who Jesus is, was, will be.
Does spiritual strength come by knowledge or by revelation?

Knowing what it says vs. believing what it says. The parable of the treasure in a field. Matthew 13:44 It is not what we know intellectually that matters or will change you or others. It is what you experience. It is what you can testify to.

Are we willing to buy the field where the treasure is? It will cost but if you know for a fact there was treasure in a field you would sell all you had to get that field.

Christianity is not understanding but action. Are we willing to act? It will cost but O the preciousness of the purchase.

Are we willing to pay the price for the treasurer? Or do we just like to teach talk and know about the treasurer?

If you believe you won't be troubled about it but will trust it.

There is no doubt when there is revelation. Revelation is the assurance of the truth of God. It comes from the Spirit. Knowledge is understanding in our mind. Revelation is understanding in our heart. What we know in our mind will not withstand the testing of life. What we know in our heart will withstand tests. God wants to find out what is in our heart that is why He tests us.

Works of wood hay and stubble are head knowledge and will be burned by the tests of fire. Works that are of gold, silver and bronze can withstand the tests of fire.

Purifying fire will cause us to grow in the Spirit allowing us to do things for God. Satan is trying to knock us off course and will be able to as we rely on what we know in our mind. When we move into a deeper understanding of the things of God by revelation we are not knocked off or our purpose because it is in our heart.

Jesus and the Father will come to us as we learn to live from our heart and not our mind. Revelation 3:14-22 is the letter to Laodicea. It is a letter of a call to repentance. It is a repentance of self sufficiency and reliance on life from God by purging our hearts by fire. We can buy spiritual things resulting from this purging. After we go through this Jesus comes to us and asks to fellowship with us. When we have this fellowship we are able to walk according to the will of God and not follow our fleshly desires.

Our fleshly desires have a pull on our mind and it is only as we set our mind on the Spirit will we be able to walk in the Spirit.

The lack of peace with the knowledge means there is no revelation. What do we do?

Don't ignore the doubt. If there is troubling in your heart. If there is doubt then deal with it.

Do we doubt the treasure is worth the cost? Don't ignore that. Pray over it and ponder the promises that God has given to us.

Phil 4:6-9 Pray; gain a place of peace. Then focus on what
god has promised and not fear. Dwell on the things of God.

Practice:
what you have learned.
what you have received.
what you have heard.
what you have seen.

Consider the lets throughout the Bible.
John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in the Father and Jesus.

John 14:26,27 Let not your heart be troubled.
Don't allow trouble to enter you heart. Fill it with the word of God.

PS 68:11 Let God arise.
How do we let Him arise?
V4 Build a highway of praise; confession and prayer and expectation.

Concentration, deep thought, introspection, pondering, quiet time, reflection, rumination, self-examination, meditation. This is what is needed to gain revelation from God. It is what gives assurance of the promises of God.

Live in expectation of the moving of God. Zeph 1:12

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Eye Salve

Revelation 3:18
Buy from Me eye salve to anoint your eyes that you may see.

Eph 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.

Enlightenment is our understanding but this verse is talking more than that, it's referring to revelation. Because its not just in our mind but in our heart.

We make life decisions with our hearts desire not from our intellect. So our enlightened understanding of our heart will allow us to make spiritual decisions. This is why we need to see with our heart not just with our mind.

We can be knocked off of our purpose if what we are doing something from only our mind. But we can't be knocked off our purpose, if it is coming from the heart.

We love with our heart. And love is able to go through trials to gain the prize. 1 Cor 13 When our hearts enlightened we are moving in love. When our hearts enlightened according to the hope of God's calling we are moving in power in the right direction.

The power comes as we move in love with sight (knowledge in our heart), according to the will of God for us. Why? Because faith works through love.

There is power in faith apart from the love of Christ. And it is according to God's general will. It may not be what God would have us do at that time. When faith and love are together, they are effective for the advancement of the kingdom.

Faith without love:
1 Cor 13
Matt 7:22,23
Matt 25:41-45

Our hearts are sensitive and can only be committed to one basic purpose at a time. "Can't serve God and money"
We either have our mind on the flesh or the Spirit.

Riches from a spiritual awareness are based on a commitment to Christ that transcends our personal peace and affluence. When we seek personal peace and affluence above reaching out to others we negate the spirit. We have set the mind of the flesh above the purposes of God. Or to put it another way, our personal peace and affluence is more important than pleasing God.

When we put our mind on the spirit, we invite by default not on purpose, opposition from man and our spiritual enemy Satan because we are moving to gain and bear fruit for Jesus. We enter a struggle for the minds and hearts of the souls of men. We are able to have power with others as we powerfully use faith and love to teach and encourage

Peace of God comes from the trails the world throws at us when we are saturated in the Word of God and the love for God.

Peace without trials in the world is being naive.

The people in Habakkuk's day had peace because they were naive. Habakkuk had peace because of his love and trust for God.

Devastation was coming and the people were blasted out of their naive understanding of life, when the Chadians marched through the land.

Habakkuk's life was on the rock but the people had built their life on the sand. Matt. 7:24-27

Here are some Scriptures dealing with spiritual eyes.
Acts 26:18 open eyes to turn from darkness to light
darkness – light
dominion of Satan – God
light of God brings salvation
Light of God brings inheritance.

Isaiah 35:5 help others to see by encouragement
Isaiah 42:7 called, hold, appoint to open eyes
Isaiah 42:16 lead the blind
Eph 5:8 walk in the light
Col 1:13 in kingdom of light.
1 Pt 2:9 chosen, priest, holy, not our own, proclaim light.

Our inheritance is involved in moving in what God has called us to Eph 2:10
We buy eye salve for our hearts eyes, by humbling ourselves to yield to God's will. Having a willingness to respond to God and not hold onto our personal peace and affluence. This eye salve gives us a willingness to accept and believe God's word.

With Eye salve we choose to follow Jesus over our personal peace and affluence.
We choose the spirit over the flesh.

Our hard heart is softened as we yield to Jesus and accept His yoke Matt 11:28-30 We put off our desires I.E. take up our cross of purpose and obedience. Choosing to follow Christ instead of the pleasures of the world.

Some would still question this acceptance of hardship. Let me give you an example which may help you understand the purpose of trials in a Christians life.

Example of the bicycle
In riding a bicycle I need to eat to have the fuel to ride. But eating by itself is not enough. Eating gives me the fuel to burn. But I gain strength by riding not by eating. It is the same with our eyes of our heart. Understanding is the fuel and serving from our heart is the riding. We need understanding and obedience of service to gain strength.
Riding is love with power and food is the fuel of knowledge.

Serving brings hardship. Any work will have opposition. God wants us to serve Him with in the midst of trials, with rejoicing this is where the power lies.


Let us not just understand what is God's will let us serve with love

Monday, February 2, 2009

Rejoice in all Attempts to Preach the Gospel

Philippians 1:18 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, “

In my discipline of guarding my mouth, this verse shows complaining about how church is done, or how the gospel is preached is not right.

Paul made a decision which he emphasized that he will rejoice in the preaching of the gospel.

I will do the same thing. I will rejoice that the gospel is preached in each church. I will rejoice that the gospel is preached on TV,. I will rejoice that the what I have to do is to add to the work Christ is doing.

Now maybe I have an insight to an approach. That does not make others wrong unless they are directly contrary to Scriptural teaching. It is that God reaches to people in different approaches.

The test is: Is Jesus magnified?

Complaining does not magnify Jesus. Point to Jesus and be a light.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? “
We are to test to see if we are in the faith. If we aren't magnifying Christ but speaking against Christian teaching we are not expressing faith. Heb 3:1 says Jesus is the high priest of our confession. If we are not confessing what Jesus wants then our words are not productive. If we work with Jesus I.E. led by the holy Spirit in what God is doing we can create life as we speak.

That is not to say we should stick our heads in the sand and ignore problems. But idle complaints are useless. Our concerns should be brought to prayer. Phil 4:6f

That way we can take the devils attempt to destroy and make life out of it.