COLOSSIANS 3:3-4 NASB
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
GALATIANS 6:14-15 NASB
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
** It really doesn't matter what's missing from our spiritual life if we're not surrendering to the new creation, Christ our life, as our means of deliverance and perseverance.
Whatever it is that presents itself as the issue that we must deal with, and the solution to that problem -- Christ in us, the hope of glory, is always the beginning. Peace, grace and power always originate at the mercy seat where all that we have ever done and ever will do is finally and forever dealt with and overcome. There can be very little victory and moving on without a full confidence in the blood of Jesus, and application of said blood, by faith to each specific circumstance and barrier we come across.
HEBREWS 4:15-16 NASB
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
** Our nature either excuses self as something that will just always be there with little remorse; or views the outward as the cause and seeks to remove the visible malfeasances without allowing the Spirit to search our hearts. We can develop a "hair shirt mentality" for a whole host of gray areas that could be for one person sin; for another, no qualms at all. No matter how we try to remove or whitewash the outward stain, the heart is still defiled and still bent to covet with no pleasure, in the end, able to slake its lusts. We can go to great lengths to appease our need, but what truly matters in the end is the "Pearl of great price" being more fully formed in us by the tiny irritants that try to plague our peace and rest. We would go to great lengths to remove these vexations, in and of themselves, if it wasn't for the grace and knowledge that these troubles help give opportunity to solely depend upon the mercy and enabling of God. It strips us of the false ideas about ourself and our ⁴"residual self-image" -- what we think we look like -- that we take with us everywhere we go. With this in mind, the finding and protection of all that is connected to this Pearl we must seek to the ends of the earth and let go of everything else that might deter us in exchange for Him. No matter what the aggravation may be, the grace to sustain and endure is always found in our turning to His strength alone, thus allowing that Pearl of life to grow and increase, as we submit and decrease.
MATTHEW 13:45-46 NASB
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
COLOSSIANS 1:27 NASB
....to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
COLOSSIANS 2:21-23 NASB
“Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men. These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
COLOSSIANS 3:1 NASB
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
ISAIAH 57:15 ESV
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
** And the starting point will always be humility and brokenness before the throne of God. In that place of cleansing, our heart can be open and able to receive instruction and knowledge, but still being ever mindful of our propensity for pride and self ambition. So often we come to the throne of God with the thought in the back of our mind that we do know what we're doing, and have done this so many times before. Though we might have a modicum of knowledge, we must continually acknowledge more deeply and confess that we must come to a place that we really do need His guidance at every turn in learning truly how to walk by the Spirit.
We have secret goals of our own that come from all of our amassed Bible knowledge. Knowledge without humility and a feigning submission to the will of God is a key component of Babylon in its most fundamental form. Knowledge of anything soon puffs up and leavens our senses (Rev 18:7-8) without the constant discipline, correction and refined peace that is established by ever offering up our will to Him. His love is eternally towards us but we cannot enter into its fullness without a pliable and willing heart to follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
⁵TRUST AND OBEY
by John H. Sammis
But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
REVELATION 18:7 NASB
To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’
1 CORINTHIANS 8:1-3 BSB
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the one who loves God is known by God.
REVELATION 14:4-5 NASB
These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
⁴(The Matrix)
⁵Trust and Obey by John H. Sammis
Add comment
Comments