Tag Archives: Jesus

A Great Revival of Obedience

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In your faithful love, O Lord, hear my cry;  let me be revived by following your regulations.

(Ps. 119:149 NLT)

Sweeter also than honey are His living words—sweet words dripping from the honeycomb! For they warn us, Your servants, and keep us from following the wicked way, giving a lifetime guarantee: great success to every obedient soul! (Psalm 19:10-11 TPT)

We’ve missed something when we pull away from Joshua 1:8 and Psalm 1:1-3-level prescriptions for the victorious life in the Lord. 

Joshua 1:8 directs: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be successful.” (AMP)

And Psalm 1:1-3 augments this same call to be in the Word night and day: “Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example], nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of scoffers (ridiculers). But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season;
Its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].” (AMP)

We haven’t perceived rightly the whole aim of God in bestowing His gift of salvation when we stall out at His requirement that we respond with wholehearted submission to Him and “tremble at His Word.” The Lord states upfront: “I have made everything; that’s how it all came to be. I, the Lord, have spoken. The people I treasure most are the humble— they depend only on me and tremble when I speak.” (Isaiah 66:2 CEV) The Father’s entire buying back of us from the slavery to sin and bondage entails His giving us the choice to be fully yielded bondslaves to God so He can bring us to glory. This glory is what we long for and are designed for but often seek by way of selfish ambition, self-exhaltation and/or the independent exertion of ego or self apart from the Holy Spirit. But self at the center doesn’t taste of the risen Lord’s delicious glory and freedom.

Let’s first face the cost to have the pure walk and not just mere talk. Then let’s examine the deep and rich fulfillment of gaining Christ. And finally, let’s look into the eternal rewards of complete obedience to the Almighty and the losses we will incur if we say “no” and hold back on our Maker. When we do obey the Father, we come to find that He very much does know what He is doing with every one of us. [See Romans 8:28-29 TPT.]

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The Yielded Will: 

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How Walking before the Father as Surrendered as Jesus 

Results in God’s Design of Glory for Man

David speaking: “I hear the Lord saying, ‘I will stay close to you, instructing you and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with My eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make Me tug you and pull you along. Just come with Me!’” 

(Psalms 32:8-9 TPT)

…God raised up David to be king, for God said of him, ‘I have found in David, son of Jesse, a man who always pursues my heart and will accomplish all that I have destined him to do.’ 

(Acts 13:22 TPT)

As we recognize that God desires to direct every aspect of the course of our lives, let’s first consider to what end this is that we may wholeheartedly follow Him. We note that Paul, James, and the others positioned themselves as bondslaves of the Lord. Did they perceive something about Jesus Christ that we need to recover as they willingly gave the Lord the full ownership of their lives that He requested? Paul firmly stated to the early followers of Christ: “You should [L Don’t you…?] know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit who is in you and was given to you by God. So you do not belong to yourselves, because you were ·bought by God [bought] for a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20 EXB) What these bondslaves of Jesus knew was that Jesus had made the way to know delicious freedom from sin and its fruit, death. These followers also came into the ultimate fulfillment of being welcomed into the embrace of the Father, the Creator, who had revealed His nature as perfect love. No longer were they prodigals. They were reinstated sons of God. [Luke 15:17-22 TPT recounts the story of the prodigal who really didn’t know the Father until Abba “raced out to meet him, swept him up in his arms, hugged him dearly, and kissed him over and over with tender love.” The son admitted his waywardness—his sins against the Father. Further, the wayward son started to declare his unworthiness. Right then, the Father stopped the son from speaking of himself as unworthy by putting the best robe on his newfound son’s shoulders, a ring as a seal of sonship, and the very best shoes. Finally, the Father inaugurated a great celebration of the son’s redemption.]  The early church knew Jesus had inaugurated “the restoration and fulfillment of all things” by His work on the cross. (Eph. 4:10 TPT) Nothing the world had to offer could compare to the new life—indeed, a new creation that the Savior had delivered to humankind, and it still doesn’t. Once born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, these men and women of the early church were flowing in rivers of the supernatural zoe life of God. They were literally experiencing resurrection life from inside their bodies.

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Let’s Say “Yes” to True Freedom this Fourth of July Season

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“So, if the Son sets you free from sin, 

then become a true son [of the Father, the Creator,] 

and be unquestionably free!” (John 8:36 TPT)

In our nation now, the understanding of freedom that’s out there in the culture is deceiving many. Voices that are influencing the dear hearts and minds of our fellow citizens are saying freedom is doing and having anything and everything one wants. In other words, freedom is license. The headlines and the dysfunctional relational life of the population at large attest to the destruction that results from such pursuits. 

Let’s consider another understanding of freedom and the purpose of life for which we are designed. And let’s consider that freedom is recovering that design. 

First, let’s admit that deep down inside we know there is a God, a Creator. Can we know Him and what He is like? Is there an ultimate fulfillment? The Bible has answers that we can experience in a way that we know that we know that what it declares comes from the heart and mind of God. The Bible reveals that Jesus is the Promised Messiah or the way back to Eden. When one meets this Son of God as Savior or Rescuer, one encounters the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the [Source of abundant] Life. (John 14:6; John 10:10) Another Kingdom opens. 

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Double Payback: The Father’s Heart to Restore

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As did Adam and Eve in the garden, Job lost it all. But in the end the Father restored double. God loves through His actions which means He has a heart to bless us with everything that He deems wise. And He acts in perfect wisdom. The meek, the Father’s born again sons and daughters, are going to get the earth back. (See Matt. 5:5.) A new heavens and a new earth are coming, populated by people who have become Jesus’ look-alikes.

Let’s consider Job’s case. God got him to the point where He moved in selfless love, and we see what happened:

After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune—and then doubled it! All his brothers and sisters and friends came to his house and celebrated. They told him how sorry they were and consoled him for all the trouble God had brought him. Each of them brought generous housewarming gifts. (Job 42:10-11 MSG)

You know how we call those blessed (happy) who were steadfast [who endured]. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the Lord’s [purpose and how He richly blessed him in the] end, inasmuch as the Lord is full of pity and compassion and tenderness and mercy.

(James 5:11 AMPC)

The Father has given a promise to give the same payback to His new creation race, those born of the Spirit into sonship.

Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs. (Isaiah 61:7 AMPC)

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Hierarchy has No Place

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One of the most precious pictures of the meek and lowly Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ, the One with all power and authority in the universe, is found in John 13:1-17. Here, Jesus, who was willingly continuing on the Father’s path for Him of giving His very lifeblood to purchase eternal life for those who would surrender to Him and follow Him, demonstrates the radical, sacrificial love that marks His reign over the hearts of men. He was not reluctant as He took a towel and put it around His waist to position Himself for the most humble and servile of tasks—that of washing His disciples’ feet the night before His death on the cross. In fact, in this task He, “longed to show them the full measure of His love,” The Passion Translation records.[1] He knew He was breaking through the sense of hierarchy that in the world’s  social, political and religious thinking determined greatness. The culture was marked by a pecking order—the enemy’s hierarchy on earth, a hierarchy that came into being as the curse fell in the Garden of Eden and man was subject to satan’s order. This demonic hierarchy is in the way of the rule of God’s kingdom of love. 

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