LOCKED IN TIME?

Are you locked in time? God isn’t. He established time when sin came into the world. It is part of His plan to redeem the world that was originally created and Adam gave over to God’s enemy.

The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal Life.” Jesus is quoted as saying, “I am eternal Life.” He also said, “Whoever comes to Me I will in no way cast him away form My presence.”

            In the “fullness of time” Jesus came, completed the Law of Moses and paid the price required by the Father to redeem all that was lost through Adam’s disobedience. The Bible says, “He sent His Word and healed all our disease.”

            When you were born again from the highest place you became a new creature and born into a new creation. The King of that new creation is Jesus and we are the joint-heirs of His Kingdom. He has seated us with Him in the Heavenlies far above all rule and all power in Heaven and Earth. Has seated is past tense. Is there a future past?

            I believe it does mean that if you were born again you are no longer subjects of this world but of a new world that is far above time. But being born again does not endue one with power to overcome the old world. That is why the Holy Spirit was sent at Pentecost, to endue with power from on high.

            Jesus said to the disciples after the resurrection as He breathed on them, “Receive holy spirit.” Most translations erroneously put the article “the” in front of holy spirit thereby making the reader believe that Jesus imparted the person of the Holy Spirit. The original language says, “Receive spirit holy.”

If it was the case that it was “the Holy Spirit”, then there was no need for them to wait another ten days in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension for the Holy Spirit that the Father had promised.

Jesus also said, “He who wants to gain his life (Gr. psuche = soul) in this (lost) world will surely lose it (utterly destroy it), but he who loses his life (Gr. psuche = soul) for My names sake will surely find it and find it to life eternal.”

The psuche or soul is composed of the mind, will and emotions. An expression applied far too often makes the point, “He/she has lost his/her mind.” It should be obvious that when observing such a person we should pray for them, Christian or not.

Since Jesus is not coming back until the restoration of all things foretold by the prophets (Acts 3:19-22) who is it that is going to do the restoring? I believe it is the manifested sons of God spoken of by Paul in Romans chapter 8 who will bring the glory of God. When God presents Himself everything in His presence must conform and come in order. God in His wisdom and grace does not show up where He will not be received.

First things first – “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness (Jesus).”

It is therefore incumbent upon us to come to the fullness that is Christ in order to “redeem the time because the days are evil” and “call those things that be not as though they were”, by bringing light into every vestige of darkness and speaking truth with one another.

CHANGED

Has Jesus kissed you today?
Has He touched you in some meaningful way?
If not,then maybe it's time to pray
Until you get self out of the way.

For He is waiting for you;
Waiting with power to endue.
The All in All is waiting for you;
To bring you into and fill you through.

I have found when I have nothing to say
He will bring me to the closet to pray
Until I am so filled up that for the rest of the day
I can do only this one thing, give Him away.

Caught up even while in despair
I can leave all of my daily care
And be conformed by Him there
Caught up into Him in the air.

Having found the secret place
Led there by His amazing grace
To plead to Him my case
And see Him face to face

I am changed in a meaningful way
All because I redeemed the time to pray
Thereby getting self out of the way,
Yes, Jesus kissed me today!

ONCE AND FOR ALL

   Yesterday before the service we were in the "payer room" when the Pastor was relating an incident of that morning. As is his custom he was up very early and "was caught up in the air with the Lord" for several hours. Later as he was driving on the freeway to church someone cut him off and for a moment he "lost it".
Quickly he caught himself and asked of the Lord, "How does that happen?", meaning how does it happen that after being with the Lord you can suddenly "lose it".
   By the Spirit I immediately and emphatically responded, "Because you hate sin! God hates sin!"
   I too and too often do the same and have been inquiring of the Lord as to why and how can I flip to the fleshly thinking.
   The answer is simply that when we've been in the presence of the Lord where everything is in order and everything is beautiful anything contrary to that is greatly disturbing and we out of the "old man of the world" react with old dead habits and mannerisms and upon recognizing what we have done we are saddened at our response and often even feel defiled and not able to go back to where we had been in the Lord.
   Oh Lord, help us to once and for all put off the old man that is trapped in time and all that is of the world and to once and for all put on the new man who is not subject to time and has been created out of the veritable manifested essence of truth, holy and blameless in Christ.
   Endue us, oh Lord, with speech that is holy and divine and completed in truth and grace so that we may call to order that which is not and walk from glory to glory becoming light to the world.