Focus!

Posted on 52021000. 133003 2013 by John Taylor

If we’re going to win this battle for our nation, for the freedoms we enjoy and for our livelihoods, we’re going to have to maintain a true focus.

Two, three of four things will help with that.

One: It’s a spiritual battle.

Former communist and trade union leader: John Wilson is interviewed by Riccardo Bosi and shows in no uncertain terms that the battle we’re in is not a legal battle, it’s not a Constitutional battle, nor a social battle etc, but that it’s a spiritual battle.

John’s down-to-earth, gutsy way of presenting his encouraging claims is something to behold!

Two: It’s real. It’s a genocidal campaign, but there is an answer to combat it.

On the 21st August 2021, there was a Freedom Rally in Darwin, Northern Territory. This David Cole whose totem name is Nurnpa (pronounced Laurn-pa, and meaning King Fisher, messenger) boldly ‘faced off’ the corporate police with steady courage, and unflinching nerve.

Lurnpa also addressed the Rally, giving an inspiring speech. Please see this video, as pictured:

It’s not as though the ‘indigenous push back’ and claim of sovereignty is the only answer, for there’s many now who are opposing the renegade policies, oppressive enforcements and threatening restrictions of our freedoms such as Reignite Democracy Australia, Australians Say No, AustraliaOne and ‘a handful’ of faithful politicians, alongside growing movements of out-of-work, workers; also doctors, lawyers and law-claimants, class actions etc.

But Launpa’s speech in this next video shows a source of unity that’s at the Heart of our great nation, lands, peoples and whole spiritual identity as a nation of unique people. It includes law but it’s not dependant on law, but rather on lore (cultural knowledge, and needless to say: each of us have some sort of lore, whether it’s family or whether it’s social etc, it’s lore!).

Will we let this current trauma – for it is a trauma, no matter which way you look at it! – overtake our identity as a nation, or will we let it forge it?

Focus!

Beware! It’s sad. It’s true. And it’s ‘gently confronting’. But, it’s our battle ground.

Remember. It’s a spiritual battleground for which any true Christian will know, is already won, but we just need to ‘go there’ and take up His prayers over it. Don’t let the confrontation of the world’s threats scare you. Let it be your invitation ‘into the furnace’ with ‘the fourth man’.

Three: All the threats are exposed as lawlessness.

Once you realize that there’s hundreds and thousands of people, including police, lawyers, doctors and many professional and occupational people, even judges resisting the unlawful laws, it emboldens us to ‘take up the weapons’ of our spiritual warfare and use them.

While as true Christ-believers, we don’t belong to this world’s system, we still need to wage our spiritual warfare over it in order to maintain our peace, our own personal peace. So, we first must realize what position we’re in lawfully amid the threat of the State governments’ use of unlawful laws.

Basically, according to Discrimination laws, we’re being victimized by our own governments, and there are penalties for them doing so. Therefore, I’ve written this summary of laws that show this to be true. It also shows at the end, links to information that will help people recover from any degree of covid sickness.

The eBook has this cover:

For a more comprehensive background to the laws shown in the above eBook, please see this foundational explanation: What is Mandatory?

Eagles soar! Yes, eagles soar.

But eagles also ‘paw’.

Go, the eagles!

Four: It’s you-&-yours, what you say, what you believe and therefore what you do.

Let’s merge into a new, fresh, complete and unique national identity as Australians, against the tyranny of corporate greed and control. Force us or forge us! We win. Eagles rise! The heavens are yours.

What if..?

Posted on 62020000. 133005 2013 by John Taylor

What if whatever you’ve ever dreamed of doing, and whomever you’ve ever dreamed of becoming, has already happened?

What if, whatever you ever believed in, determines whom you will become and whether-or-not your dreams and plans will ever come true?

Then, what if there’s a plan for your life that’s already been made and matched to your every good, and your every bad decision, covering all your mistaken beliefs?

So, what if that plan and belief-covering-grace depends not on you but on another’s gift to you, that this other’s gift is already given, just for you to receive?

And, what if everything works this way?

That all we need to do is to receive the life-force of God’s Spirit through the gospel of His Son and the positional honour He gives us in His Son, in order to enable us to work an eternal plan that’s been engineered just for each of us?

You know? I think our focus has been all wrong! Take for example the Christian teaching on eschatology, which would mean: teachings about last things.

Eschatology is a theological word, not a Bible word. It’s a word that theologians have used to describe a teaching, not the teaching itself.

Eschaton is the root, or origin of the word and means: the final event in the divine plan; the end of the world. So, it’s the study – eschatology – of what’s to come.

So, anyone’s study of things to come would focus their faith and hope on those things coming true.

But, what if the things you’ve desired to come true have already been planned, and while you’ve been focusing on things to come you’ve overlooked that plan?

Even worse, what if that plan is the only plan that can make your hopes for the future come true but you’ve been looking for things to come, instead of the plan?

So, we come back to the original hope that I expressed:

What if there’s a plan for your life that’s already been made and matched to your every good, and your every bad decision, covering all your mistaken beliefs, and that plan alone can make your most pure-hearted hopes come true?

What if that plan and belief-covering-grace depends not on you but on another’s gift to you, that this other’s gift is already given, just for you to receive?

And, what if everything works this way? “God said it. I believe it. That settles it”.

No: “That does it”.

Let me suggest that the Plan I’ve been provoking you to believe in, is God’s plan from all eternity about the way that God himself has designed to give you His own righteousness.

That linked text is for this Speech Script document, pictured here by its cover:

It’s a summary of how God the Father has given Christian believers the same right in His kingdom (righteousness) as Christ now has, as the first man to enter heaven, bringing heaven on earth.

How would you feel about that if all-the-while, you’d been putting your hope in some other thing that’s proposed to come true in the future but hasn’t come true yet, when all-the-while those who have focused on this gift of righteousness’ plan, have it and have learned to work it?

What if ‘the beast’ of eschatology is not some sort of spiritual monster, nor some sort of evil religious organisation that’s to come, but it’s the combination of mankind’s entire corruptions that work evil plans?

What if the antichrist is not a person nor a global leader of any sort, but it’s a spirit?

And what if the millennium is only typical of eternity and of the character and nature of eternal life, rather than a literal period of one thousand years?

Finally, what if that which is taught by eschatology as being an end-of-the-world, seven-year period of extreme trouble and judgement, really only typifies the troubles we continually go through day-by-day and that peoples the-world-over have had to contend with since sin came into the world?

My very brief and probably inadequate summary of these things is here in another study, called: Today’s Reformation.

What if…?

It would mean that the focus of our faith has been wrong all along, causing us to wait for an outcome that’s expected to be in the future when all along, it’s been happening all around us!

This current crisis of a global pandemic has opened my own eyes to how Christians are responding with claims of end-times-events coming true! Please wake up. It doesn’t need to be the beginning of a one-world government, a one-world money system, a one-world religion, nor the beginning of great trouble, judgment and persecution.

If we’re focused on what we expect to come true, it surely will! But if we’re focused on our right-in-Christ to claim the goodness of His will on earth as it is in heaven, we’ll triumph and see goodness come true. I’ve gone into a 14-page description of our current world’s-view in order to explain this honour we have from God.

If you’re concerned about this scenario, and especially if you’re finding that you have a lack of answered prayer at the moment, maybe you’d like to avail yourself of this explanation of an eBook: Forewarned is Forearmed.

So, what if this scenario is true of us as Christians?

It would mean that, due to such future-focused blindness, we’d neglected to acknowledge the true and eternal plan of God for our lives, lost all our dreams’ comings true, and forsaken the authority to do what’s right.

All because we’d forgotten that God’s gift of salvation to us, is a gift and that it’s the gift of His right stance :in: Himself that He’s given us: gratis! – His grace-gift that can’t be earned by looking ahead or by any other means but by believing in Him – believing in Him in this now-time, in this eternal “one thousand years to Me is as one day, and one day is as a thousand years”, timeless faith He’s given us, so that we can work His miracles.

Commissioned as Priests

Posted on 72019000. 133009 2013 by John Taylor

The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-15: So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child, in heaven and on the earth ~TPT.

Whereas the ESV puts it this way: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

So, the question must be asked: For what reason?

For reason of the apostle Paul’s ownership claim of the gospel of grace that’s been given to us in Christ, for Paul writes in verse 6:

Here’s the secret: The gospel of grace has made you, non-Jewish believers, into coheirs of his promise through your union with him. And you have now become members of his body – one with the Anointed One! ~Ephesians 3:6, TPT.

But then, the result and outcome of the personal effect of the gospel of grace – its modus operandi in our lives and the way it works in us – is described in verses 11-12.

This perfectly wise plan was destined from eternal ages and fulfilled completely in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that now we have boldness through him, and free access as kings before the Father because of our complete confidence in Christ’s faithfulness ~Ephesians 3:11-12, TPT.

There are parallel outcomes to these claims of the apostle Paul’s, stated-as-written in Ephesians 3:6-12, but they’re also recorded in parallel as a priest’s commissioning in Zechariah 3:7.

In Zechariah chapter 3 the prophet Zechariah records the vision that the Lord gave him of the commissioning of Joshua the high priest. The vision along with the prophet’s prophetic words describes the Angel of the Lord’s instruction and His promises to Joshua for the effectiveness of his high priesthood, for these are parallel instructions and promissory outcomes with the apostle Paul’s in Ephesians 3:6 & 10.

Here’s the secret (says Paul): The gospel of grace has made you, non-Jewish believers, into coheirs of his promise through your union with him. And you have now become members of his body – one with the Anointed One! ~v6, TPT.

Therefore we’ve become in Christ: the royal priesthood of this great and merciful High Priest, just like Joshua’s commissioning! ~cf. Hebrews 4:14-5:10. Us-with-Jesus, the Son of Righteousness who’s passed through the heavens and now is glorified on our behalf, interceding for us, advocating for us in the court of heaven, and transferring His divine counsel and judgments to us for our use and for our overcoming and triumph in all of life!

The purpose of this was to unveil before every throne and rank of angelic orders in the heavenly realm God’s full and diverse wisdom revealed through the church ~v10, TPT.

Since we have it, then let’s use it!

So, it all comes together in vv11-12:

This perfectly wise plan was destined from eternal ages and fulfilled completely in our Lord Jesus Christ, so that now we have boldness through him, and free access as kings before the Father because of our complete confidence in Christ’s faithfulness ~vv11-12, TPT.

Our cheif Shepherd leads us beside still waters

and restores our souls ~cf. Psalm 23.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ~Romans 8:31-32, ESV.

So we take our priestly place in the auspice of God, as a flock of birds, wheeling and swooping in unison as if choreographed of course: by our Author’s providence!

Let’s go!

Zechariah 3:7 Our priestly place in our King’s court and counsel:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts:

If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge,

then you shall rule my house and

have charge of my courts, and

I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here”, ~ESV.

“…those who are standing here” included the Angel of the Lord: Christ himself, Zechariah the prophet and a number of servants whether people or heavenly spirits, also Satan.

So, our Lord promises to give Joshua the high priest and us as His new covenant’s priesthood: the right of access!

He promises to graciously give us the right of access to divine wisdom, enabling us to walk in God’s ways and keep His charge of – whatever the charge you know, is given to you by God!

Your charge in life could be fatherhood, motherhood, family nurture, vocational authority in your workplace, alliances with your peers, friends and acquaintances, and/or the loving charge of an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher of His people etc.

He’s graciously promised us the right of access to the Divine Counsel that righteously rules His house, whether ‘His house’ is your family, your whole workplace, your group of peers and friends, or a small church group or a large one, He’s given you the right of access to the Divine Counsel that you need for them and for yourself.

He’s graciously promised us the right of access to our Judge’s judgments that rebuke and overthrow Satan’s lies and strongholds in each, every and all those realms.

And our Lord’s promise to Joshua that He will give us the right of access to all these things, is promised ”among those who are standing here”, meaning all these roles, response-abilities and authorities are being performed in the presence of our Overcomer: the King of the ages, in the presence of His servants, in the presence of His honouring and honourable prophets, and in the presence of the angelic host who long to look into this perfect salvation we’ve got.

I write this with this hope that this writing and holy ownership claim will restore any reader’s focus in God’s heavenly kingdom, that we are commissioned by Him as priests, causing praise and worship in heaven’s court of the Most High God who is our King-Priest and judge, the Commander-in-Chief of angel armies, our Redeemer and all judgments’ Deliverer!

The commissioning of Christ’s priesthood is quite simple:

If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge,

then you shall rule My house and

have charge of My courts, and

I will give you the right of access.

That is, it consists of just two things: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge.

Surrender is surely the key to knowing God’s ways and doing things His way.

There’s a preaching & teaching video by Art Katz called: Eternal Rule and Rewards

which is really enlightening on walking in God’s ways and keeping His charge.

Therefore, I think we could all do with these encouraging and instructive words of the apostle Paul’s, which will surely bring comfort:

~2 Timothy 1:7-14, TPT.

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control/spirit-strength.

“So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, but overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God!

“He gave us resurrection life and drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn’t because of any good we have done, but by his divine pleasure and marvellous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus, even before time began!

“This truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of the anointed Jesus, our life-giver, who has dismantled death, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by the gospel.

“And he has anointed me as his preacher, his apostle, and his teacher of truth to the nations. The confidence of my calling enables me to overcome every difficulty without shame, for I have an intimate revelation of this God.

“And my faith in him convinces me that he is more than able to keep all that I’ve placed in his hands safe and secure until the fullness of his appearing.

“Allow the healing words you’ve heard from me to live in you and make them a model for life as your faith and love for the Anointed One grows even more. Guard well this incomparable treasure by the Spirit of Holiness living within you”.

Since Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Holiness – is given to us as on that day of Pentecost when He was given to the 120 disciples of Christ who had waited worshipfully in that upper room, and He has been given to us in our baptism of fire, also since He is given on the irrevokable grounds of Christ sacrifice, then I reckon we can keep the apostle Paul’s charge: Guard well this incomparable treasure by the Spirit of Holiness.

A ‘rough but ready’ priesthood we are, and a royal priesthood we shall be!

Kingdom Culture and the Prophetic Voice

Posted on 62019000. 133109 2013 by John Taylor

For any visitor here and for any of those who are following my posts on this web site, please acknowledge these three new pages I’ve now posted.

The-three are one whole conception’s claim!

Each of these new pages goes with the other, for they’re claiming to be a guide into changing church culture into Kingdom Culture and for the use of the prophetic Voice.

The purpose of these three claims is for the unity of the churches’ equipping meetings, and for the making of true disciples of Christ.

1. Kingdom Culture
2. Prophetic Voice

3. Spiritual Dominion

Please access the whole pages’ posts either through the header bar on this page or through the linked and colored titles above.

Thank you for your consideration of these messages.

Since God Did It, You Can Trust Him

Posted on 12017000. 133112 2013 by John Taylor

Holy Spirit is reminding us that we must always “remember the Lord our God’s covenant that He commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant that He made with Abraham ~1 Chronicles 16:14-16.

Many may think, that God’s covenant with Abraham was the covenant of circumcision, as given in Genesis 17:10-11, for the Hebrews’ religious practices, practise this rigorously and even Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day.

But the apostle Paul shows us in Romans 4:9-12 that circumcision is only “a seal of the righteousness that Abraham had by faith while he was still uncircumcised ~4:11, and Genesis 17:11 also agrees, that circumcision is merely a sign of God’s covenant.

So, what is this covenant that the Lord our God made with Abraham that king David says, we must remember, and are commanded to remember for a thousand generations?

To find out, we must refer to the very site that the apostle Paul refers to in Romans 4, that is: ~Genesis 15:6 “And Abraham believed the Lord and He counted it to him as righteousness”. For, in this context where the Lord promises Abram a son, the Lord also confirms His promise to Abram for his descendants that they will inherit their lands.

The process where the Lord our God confirms and establishes the covenant He made with Abraham, is simply wonderful and extremely important for our faith.

~1 The Lord instructs Abram to prepare a sacrifice, by preparing five animals and laying them out in order. Some time elapses, as Abraham waits upon the Lord ~15:7-11.

~2 The Lord puts Abram to sleep! A ‘dreadful and deep darkness’ falls upon Abram in his sleep and the Lord speaks to him in his sleep ~15:12-16.

~3 A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passes through the pieces of the sacrifice that Abram had prepared, and God himself seals the covenant while Abram is still asleep.

How wonderful is that!

There’s all sorts of parallels that can be drawn from the process God used to establish this covenant with us – cp. God commanded that it’s to be observed and remembered for a thousand generations ~1 Chronicles 16:15 – but only one is most important, and that is that God himself sealed the covenant. God took the initiative. God made it, and not man.

No covenant would ever be effective if it was left up to man to establish and maintain it. That very fact – this eternal truth that mankind can never uphold an agreement with God – was proven by God giving us His law, and it was the purpose of the law, to show us that only God can justify anyone. Anyone’s meditaion on Romans 3:19-26 will show us so!

“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

“For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as the peacemaking, sacrificial offering through his blood, which offering is to be received by faith.

“This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus ~Romans 3:19-26.

If it is God who justifies you, then no man can condemn you! If it is God who has established His covenant in the blood and body of Christ with you, then no man can take it away from you. Just like the smoking fire pot and flaming tourch of Abram’s ‘dreamtime sleep’, the Lord your God ‘did it all while you were asleep’.

For, “the righteousness of God” is “for all who believe” ~3:22.

There is no longer any distinction between Hebrew believers who practice law and others who do not ~3:22-23, because “all have sinned ..but… are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” ~3:23-24.

The “smoking fire pot and flaming tourch” with which God has cut this covenant for us, is that life of Christ that is offered to us for our justification, for the correction of our wrongs – the perfect Life that was lived in our place and was sacrificed for our sins, but was raised by the Spirit of Holiness in order to give us His virtue and position, not ours but His complete and perfect life, postion and virtue, given to us through our faith in Him.

God did it, while we were asleep!

God’s Child-Play Army

Posted on 22017000. 133007 2013 by John Taylor

Prophecy’s Title: Cohesion and Supernatural Trust
A Personally Prophetic Dream
Interpreted for the Body and Bride of Christ

Dare to Dream!

Things will not be as they used to be! For I-Am building your cohesion together.

I-Am holding back My people from presumptuous sins and sins of unbelief by My Son’s brotherhood with you. For My heart and passion is for My Son’s bride, that there be no division, but only growth among My people into My Son’s authority and likeness.

You are finding a new way of rejoicing as My people together, as the espoused bride of My Son. You are encased as it were, among a family’s gathering and are finding a new and comforting fellowship with Me among My people, a new unity, a new vibrancy of friendship and a new cohesion of belief in Me. Stay your course! For this is the change I-Am seeking and making.

Many are being sent out by this cohesion of My family’s gathering-joy. I-Am infusing you with joy in order that your journey outwards will be with great freedom in the persuasion of who I-Am with you, for you, and against your adversary. My desires for each of you are forged in the furnace of My love for you from before the foundation of the worlds, and you’re becoming weapons of righteousness fit for My glory.

Be aware and pray for the awareness of My sent messengers whom I-Have sent for each one of you. For these are as a child’s play with you, but they are also heavenly beings and spirit-winds whom I-Have commissioned for each one’s protection, honour and forward march in my childs-play army!

For you, these sent messengers are for your joyful play, but for your adversaries, they are an ominous sign of doom, foreboding and destruction; but to the contrary, they are a sign of your salvation, for they carry My signs, wonders and miracles for your speech and command.

I-Have sent My Son as your brother and bridegroom, to court your affections by His Spirit and to constrain you through your divine and eternal knowledge of His comforting, guiding, counselling, consoling and helping knowledge, so that you won’t ‘strike your foot against a stone’, nor crush the ambitions of My people among whom you dwell and rejoice.

Therefore, seek the knowledge of My Son.

Beware of carnal knowledge, My people – that boastful pride that arises from anything else but My sacrificial, enduring and hopeful type of love. I-Am the Lord and there is no God besides Me. It is I-Who court your affections and no other, for My love is not known to any other, but I-Have revealed my love to you who believe in My Son.

Therefore be strong and take courage!

For My global army is praying for your nation and they are desiring with a sacrificial love, that this cohesion of your faith and works, will be effective for what you call revival. For you say that I-Turn-Up, but I’ve never turned you down! So, be strong and take courage for I-Delight in your many prayers and Will answer those who are consistent in prayer.

As you see the times change, whether for good or for evil, remember My goodness and faithfulness, for many changes are afoot, but your manner of conduct and faithfulness in My presence is your guard and your shield against any changes.

Many peoples, nations and governments are in turmoil, but this is the world’s fringe of a border around My elaborate tapestry which I-Have made of you. This fringe will serve the tapestry-covering as you delight in this cohesion I-Am making among you, for I-Have ordained it.

The whole scriptural foundation of this prophecy

is contained in an eBook called

God’s Child-Play Army

The outcome of the whole eBook’s study, is something like this ~Psalm 2:7-8 & 12, TPT.

“I will reveal the eternal purpose of God.
For he has decreed over me, ‘You are my favored Son.
And as your Father I have crowned you as my King Eternal.
Today I became your Father.
Ask me to give you the nations and I will do it,
and they shall become your legacy ~vv7-8.

Fall facedown before him and kiss the Son
before his anger is roused against you.
Remember that his wrath can be quickly kindled!
But many blessings are waiting for all
who turn aside to hide themselves in him! ~v12.

‘Turning aside to hide ourselves in Him’ seems like a clothing exercise – putting on armour! And doing this by “kissing” Him, indicates our worshipful role in God.

But it is He, who kisses us!

For the Son has worshipped us, by taking on our humanity and redeeming us:

“In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the peacemaking (and love evoking) sacrifice for our sins ~1 John 4:10.

The eBook traces these worshipful roles,

showing that we live out our worship & victory by our child-likeness.

Exposing the Death Cult

Posted on 62015000. 133009 2013 by John Taylor

Normally, a cult is a group of people who’ve gone wrong, and who’ve gone into extremes.

Converse to “the normality of a cult”, please consider that a cult may be a way of thinking, for such people in a group always have their own teachings, that condition their thinking and unite them in their cause.

“It’s only natural”, we often say; and use this claim of our thinking’s way, to opt out of just about anything!

If eternity is at stake, all-the-while as we live, then our thinking is the only tool we’ve got to get us there, enable us to live there or here, and to take-us-on gloriously, as we live. It’s important.

Despite the heading of this article, this script is not about Islam’s apparent domination of our western world’s outlook at this time. “Thinking”, ..though! It’s an important issue and people ARE concerned about “the Muslim uprising”, and with good cause.

I’ve recently posted this article on the web – Nations & Global Islam – and it can be accessed through that link. It’s evidence that people ARE concerned. This web site of mine is not a major news source, obviously; but my write-up of “global Islam” has been downloaded 465 times to date – it’s now early October. Evidence that demands a verdict!

So, let’s get back to the original article:

Many people think of eternity as some condition or state in the future, after death. But eternity and spirituality are also in the here-and-now.

The apostle John wrote that: The world is passing away and is disappearing, and with it: the forbidden cravings – the passionate desires, the lust – of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his lifetime, lives and remains forever” ~1 John 2:17.

Let’s see this last phrase of that verse, in an explained version that’s closer to the original text – he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his lifetime, lives and remains forever.

Doing the will of God is a surprisingly simple topic, with only four explicit criteria to it: for the will of God is our salvation: see John 6:39-40; the will of God is our sanctification, that we live a holy life by surrendering to the gospel’s claims: see 1 Thessalonians 3:1-8; the will of God is for our joy, through our thanksgiving: see 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; and the will of God is that we do good by doing what’s right: see 1 Peter 2:15.

Please follow this highlighted link, for a more complete insight into doing God’s will.

So, we come back to this explanation of this key part of the verse from 1 John 2:17 – he who does the will of God, lives and remains forever.

The phrase: “lives and remains forever”, is commonly translated with just two words: “lives forever”, but is actually three in the original writings: “lives”, being a verb; and then the missing word which is a preposition meaning “into” or “amongst”, and then “forever” which is a noun.

The original meaning for “forever” in Vines Expository Dictionary is very interesting. The Greek word is aion, meaning: an endless age of spiritual and moral force. Now, that sounds better!

Therefore, by using these comparisons, we can get an original interpretation: He who does the will of God, lives into and amongst this endless age of eternity’s spiritual and moral force.

If, in doing God’s will, the believer in Christ has entered into a timeless age, of spiritual and moral force, then he-or-she, is living eternally.

The author of Vines Expository Dictionary is very emphatic, that the Greek word aion, must not be translated as “world”, which is used as a substitute at other textual sites where it would mean a temporal world, but that the Greeks’ conception of it, is that of an ongoing, eternal and timeless age.

This is an important conception or: ownership-claim for anyone’s true faith, because in the days of the Bible’s writing, the Greeks’ thinking condition was very philosophical, as the people thought deeply about life and therefore, to interpret the original words according to their original use is of paramount importance.

Therefore to bring in this idea of aion’s meaning, into the interpretation of 1 John 2:17, is a key to comprehending the true, spiritual nature and value of our Biblical and supernatural faith, because: how we think by our faith, is how we’ll each respond to the demands and opportunities of life.

Therefore, our conception of “death”, takes on a whole new light. That is, if we’re living in a timeless age of spiritual and moral force, by doing God’s will, then our lives are not defined by this lifetime alone, but by the ongoing, timeless age that we’re now living in, and death is just a “hiccup” in the continuum of Life.

It’s a world of controversy! We see, hear, smell, taste and feel all that is around us. But do we judge by what we see? Or do we deny the outward appearances and continue doing God’s will?

For, if the eternal gospel is true, that Christ has claimed our very souls, by living our life – the perfect life; and then: by dying our death – the death that we were due at God’s hand for our sin, but through His death: taking away our sins, sicknesses and weaknesses; and then being raised from death on our behalf so that we have His very own Life, then He avails us of the power to life a new life; and so: we have this new freedom to do God’s will.

For Christ himself has claimed: “Just as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whomever He wills and is pleased to give it.

“Even the Father judges no one, for He has given all judgment – the last judgment and the whole business of judging – entirely into the hands of the Son, so that all men may give honor, reverence and personal homage to the Son, just as they give honor to the Father. In fact, whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, Who has sent Him.

“I assure you – Christ speaking! – most solemnly I tell you, the person whose ears are open to My words: who listens to My message and believes and trusts in and clings to and relies on Him Who sent Me, now possesses eternal life.

“Furthermore, such a person does not come into judgment – he does not incur sentence of judgment, and will not come under any eternal condemnation – but he has already passed over, out of death into life” ~John 5:21-24.

So, Jesus’ words have surely “sealed the deal”, that we live now, by doing God’s will, into and amongst this timeless age of spiritual and moral force, by having passed over from death into Life, though our ownership of the gospel’s message, and through our true faith in the One who seals this message in our hearts – our divine companion, the Holy Spirit.

Judgment! If any reader has “come in here” with skepticism and is reacting to this message with contempt, please consider the Divine Companion’s role in your salvation:

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy – every evil, abusive, or injurious speech and thought, or indignity against sacred things – can be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not and cannot be forgiven ~Matthew 12:31.

The immediate context where Jesus spoke these words, warning about blasphemy and defining what blasphemy is, points towards spiritual discernment – judging between true and fraud claims of moral and spiritual goodness: see especially Matthew 12:28 in the context of the whole chapter.

Therefore it’s for the very reason that the Holy Spirit is our only source of eternal counsel, and guide into all truth, that Christ warns us against speaking against Him. That is, if you deny His presence and role, there’s no forgiveness, because He is the effective agent of cleansing: see Titus 3:4-7; and the only One who can guide us in true and right thinking: see John 16:13-15.

This is why the Christian believer seems to walk the tightrope between life and death, in our thought life. Our hearts are conditioned by the eternal gospel through Holy Spirit’s cleansing of us, and our minds are therefore conditioned to think about the circumstances in which we live, by the gospel’s wisdom, so that we are constrained by our conscience and thinking, to see life in a stark contrast – Spirit and Life vs. sin & death.

We choose life, through our lifestyle of spiritual worship. And we choose to live eternally by doing God’s will.

Our Lord has “put pay” to any death cult’s way of thinking, by these words, as they were uttered by Him to his dear friend Martha, at the grave scene of Martha’s brother’s burial:

Jesus said to His dear friend: Your brother shall rise again.

Martha replied, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Jesus said to her, I-Am myself, the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in Me, although he may die, yet he shall live; and whoever continues to live and believe in Me shall never actually die at all. Do you believe this? ~John 11:23-26.

Hm. Do you believe this?

Death, only “opens it’s jaws” on those who’ve continued to live in sin. But by believing in Holy Spirit’s illumination of our souls, through our knowledge of the gospel, we pass through.

Yes. Death is our enemy according to 1 Cor. 15:26, but each of us must pass through death – “ten out of ten people die”. This condition is pictured, although not named as such, as the first death; but there is a second death, when death itself and hell are cast into the lake of fire, thus ending and/or starting eternal punishment: ~Revelation 20:14.

I say: “thus ending..”, for we have the promise of God: “The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth” ~Psalm 34:16.

And: “Let them – those people who have wicked and deceitful mouths – be before the Lord in remembrance continually, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth” ~Psalm 109:15, cp. v2.

Finally, the great Victor over death is ours! For: since He conquered death and we belong to Him, then this thinking condition of our faith, defies death as an enemy.

So, let’s say along with the apostle Paul: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” ~1 Cor. 15:56.

We do not “court death” by sinning, but instead: we hold fast to Holy Spirit’s counsel, who is the Spirit of our Victorious Christ, and Himself: our victory indeed.

It’s not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord.

It may seem “a hard act to follow” when death, our last enemy, is still “on our battlefield” until the day we die. But we have our ever faithful Companion and His word as our divine “usher”, helper, guide, friend and comforter: throughout this corridor of time, as our everlasting spiritual and moral force Who guards our way, and makes our lives real :in-and-amongst: this ongoing, eternal and timeless age.

Vision, for the Church

Posted on 62015000. 133005 2013 by John Taylor

Whilst worshiping in church, I saw this opening of a pathway. It was while I was meditating and praying for Alcarrra – our community owned property at the end of Patterson’s Rd. This is very significant for our local and regional lands but also for all believers, especially since this vision’s sunrise is positioned towards the Hummock, which is central to this land and is a sacred worship site in our land.

I first saw, like a dark, towering sea, split down the middle and opened up like the Red Sea when Moses lead the Israelites through, “standing up in a heap” on both sides. It was as though our Lord is saying: I-Am holding back the darkness, for you to go through.

And then, up ahead as I looked upon and along this Pathway, there was an awesome Sunrise, as the sun is, at its first rising – “giant sized”, and low at the horizon. It was an orange colour and shade at the top, and “shading downwards” to deeper red, and then slightly obscured by clouds in the bottom quarter of its appearance.

All around, in this vision, was darkness – the waters: standing up in a heap were all dark, but with slightly glistening tops; the pathway itself, going through the waters on dry ground was pitch black; and the sky around the sunrise, were all dark as could be.

The only Light seemed to be coming from the blood-red sunrise, and even this was clouded at the bottom.

I believe this Sunrise and Pathway, is prophetic of some scripture’s I’ve been meditating upon, and indicates this necessity for God’s people to focus exclusively on God’s righteousness as our very own.

As this world grows darker and darker and more and more foreboding, we will need this focus as our deliberate, defiant volition, to protect and keep us from the darkness of this world:

“Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of Your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours” ~Psl. 110:3.

“There she will respond to Me freely as she did in the days of her youth” ~Hos. 2:15.

For the background of this scripture from Hosea, is the restoration of Israel after a long period of judgments for her idolatry. So, “there” is restoration, and we live in these days of restoration. This surely applies to the Church, just as the apostle Peter spoke in the book of Acts:

“Heaven must welcome Christ the Messiah, until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about by the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning” ~Acts 3:21. see also verses 11 to 24. But it’s our personal “day of God’s power” (~Psalm 110:3) that I’m concerned about here. Where do we find it?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel (here!) because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first for the Jew, and also: for all other people. For in it, God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith” ~Rom. 1:17-17.

So, what about: these “holy garments, from the womb of the morning”, where we receive “the dew of our youth”?

By the vision’s show, it was only the top of the waters that received the sunlight, and were glistening with it.

This scripture in Hosea also speaks of our God taking vengeance on “wayward leaders” who were used as judges previously, although wicked, and that these types of people will face their judgments. Dare I say, that our nation is set up for “a cleansing”, such as the picture, place and name of Jezreel stands for!

Concerning the Church: “There she will respond (to Me freely) as she did in the days of her youth”…and… “…in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours”.

…sounds like dancing with the Leader, to me!

We have a fertile “womb”, not a baron one! And “the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing in its wings” – this is our view of Christ’s righteousness, as our own – Mal. 4:2.

So our “morning” is set, forever! -clear-as-day, for us to gaze into, and rise-up because-of. And, by God’s grace, we keep our garments holy, not through law, but through a love relationship with our Creator, as the great Romancer who “makes the coming-in of the morning, and going out of the evening, to shout for joy” – Psl. 68:5.

So, God’s-Righteousness as our own, contrasts sharply with where we’ve been: “When a woman is in labor she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person (this change of law for grace) has been born into the world” – Jn. 16:20. “For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth are revealed through Jesus Christ” – Jn. 1:17.

We live by a righteousness – right-standing with God – that’s not our own, but is operated through our faith in Christ’s life, death, resurrection, exaltation and glorification! He is the pure, spotless Lamb of God, who lived the perfect life without sin. Therefore death could not hold him because “the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1Cor. 15:56) and Christ’s life, lived in our place, fulfilled God’s law perfectly.

Death could no stop Him and the grave could not hold Him, because He’d never sinned.

And so, for us?

“The Sun of Righteousness – the true divine light of our faith – has risen in our eyes by our ‘sight’ of Christ’s resurrection, with healing and personal wholeness, in it’s wings”. We access all of our honors from God, through faith in Christ’s resurrection, because of His righteousness, given as a gift to us:

“For if, because of one man’s trespass (the first Adam), death reigned through that one man (because of his sin), then much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” ~Rom. 5:17.

It’s a gift. That’s why we can come into His presence in worship and in our daily lives, with boldness and complete confidence that He is God, because He took the initiative and made this way of righteousness, for the believer in the gospel, alone.

Rest Your Hope and Faith in God

Posted on 32014000. 133109 2013 by John Taylor

Of necessity, what we impart as Christian teachers, must surely come over as the apostle Paul says: “…we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory…” (1Cor. 2:7), the type of wisdom that “… no eye has seen, nor has any ear heard, nor has the heart-of-man imagined, and the type-of-wisdom that God has prepared for those who love him” (1Cor. 2:9, clarified).

Besides the very real necessity of true faith in God; what this means, that: “if you let the devil take your faith, he’s got your soul too” is very shaky ground for anyone’s salvation, to my way of thinking about our eternal salvation. That is to say: Is the devil in control, or is God? And, where does your faith fit in?

This – “if you let the devil take your faith, he’s got your soul too” – dare I say, is a rather presumptuous way of preaching and teaching about personal faith, for the preaching and teaching about people’s own personal convictions of how they see God, and how they co-opt with Holy Spirit, is a very personal thing!

And, is this co-opting with God, dependent on the devil’s influence? I hope not, for even our Lord said: “Get behind me satan” to the apostle Peter, “for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men” ~Matt. 16:23. Peter was commissioned by Christ, to co-opt with Him, but he’d deviated at this stage.

Rest your hope and faith in God, not in man; and not in d-evil.

Within such a tender and eternally significant role of teaching, do we make our salvation dependent on our ability to uphold our faith? For, the scriptures teach that the role of purifying and making our faith effective, is the role and purpose of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit’s counsel, by the eternal Word and Holy Spirit upholding our most personal faith (1Cor. 2:14-15 cp. John 17:17), and making it effective for the occasion of its effectiveness – there’s a big difference!

How many times in the gospels, did our Lord denounce people for their lack of faith, or commend them for their genuine faith? God works through our faith in Him, not our faith in circumstances.

Will we be caught, trusting in our own strength, or in God’s?

There seems to be a gross error in Christians’ beliefs, that we must “pit our faith against the devil”, whereas spiritual discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, more along the lines: Do you trust God? Good. Then: Does God trust you? with such discernment.

Regarding salvation and our faith, let’s consider ~Eph. 2:1-10, and then compare it with some key scriptures from the book of Romans; in order to “lever the weevils out of our dough mix”. “Give us this day, our daily bread”, isn’t it, taught by the Lord, for our provision? If yes, then our most important need, is to stand on redemption ground and stand our ground in the Bread of Life, in Christ’s power, not our own.

Yes: “…receiving the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls” ~1 Pet. 1:9, is a true statement about our eternal salvation, but it’s predicated upon the words that precede it, as written by the apostle Peter, to these charges of his own personal care: “who by the power of God, are guarded through (your) faith, in-view-of a salvation that’s ready to be revealed at every latest, fitting moment” ~v5, true to the original language.

If we’ve got a salvation that’s activated and empowered by God, then: let’s have it! But, if it’s lived out by fear of d-evil, or by my own futile mind’s ability to apprehend the things of my eternal, infinite, glorious and magnificent God, then I don’t want it; for these wouldn’t be God-things, but my things. I want God’s things. How about you?

Yes: in relation to this world’s goods, honors and services, we’re taught by the scriptures that: “what should it profit a man, to gain the whole world but then, to lose his soul” ~Matt. 16:26, and this was said by Christ to His disciples, where He was warning them as to the cost it would take, to follow Him.

It’s “painfully obvious” that we’ve each got short lives of 60, 70, 80 or 90 years, so Christ’s question is this same eternal question I’m posing here: Where is your faith? Is it, in your mind’s ability? Is it In your faith’s ability? Or is it in your God’s ability?

Showing what ~Eph. 2:1-10 means, regarding our real salvation, our personal faith and our God-empowered life:

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit that’s now working in the sons of disobedience” ~vv1-2.

So, the apostle has identified and positioned the believers he’s writing to, by saying: You were once dead in sin, and you were once conducting yourselves like everyone else, in disobedience towards God, being ruled by a spiritual authority, implying blindness – cp. dead in sin – and: deceit – cp. being ruled by a power that was then: unidentified to them.

“We too, all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also” ~v3.

So, Paul “lines us up with” the rest of humanity, in graphic terms, which are best bought out by this application of the Amplified Version’s text:

“Amongst these (type of people), we: as well as you, once lived and conducted ourselves in the strong desires of our bodily motives [our behaviour governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], where we obeyed the impulses of the body’s hormones and dictates, obeying also the impulses and thoughts of our minds [our cravings dictated by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of [God’s] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind” ~v3, clarified.

Now, this is the key factor: “We were then, by nature…”. So, hold-on, there’s a change of nature coming, which makes this “faith angle” much more of a simple case, than a fearsome “loss if you don’t obey” -case. Returning to the apostle’s words:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! ~vv4-5.

Ah! So, it’s not our faith that saves us, but God’s grace. Phew! And it seems like, according to Paul’s writing, God also completed the job:

“Together with Christ Jesus, He also raised us up and seated us, in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” ~vv6-7.

Now, let’s just hold it here for a moment, before we get into that all-too-familiar scripture that follows: “For you are saved by grace, through faith..”.

Because here, in verses 6 & 7, we have “the jewel in God’s crown” – us! In our true position with God and by the decree of God, each believer is seated with Christ in the heavenly sphere – we were once children of wrath, living in the strong desires of our bodies’ and minds’ dictates – but now, we’ve entered the sphere of God’s love, and been made alive to God, by God.

Previously, by nature, we were completely cut off from God, because we were children of God’s wrath – like kids in rebellion, and left to our rebellion by our Father’s exasperation over us! – and we were children of God’s cutting-off, because of our nature: our rebellious natures. But now, by the revelation of God’s mercy through the gospel – His kindness that we didn’t deserve, and never could have earned – we’ve been made alive to God (~vv4-5).

Question: But, what was God’s purpose in doing this? Why did He choose to save us by his grace – through the virtues of His mercy?

Answer: “so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace, through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” ~v7.

Now, are we going to “let God be kind” or not? Are we going to let Him show though us, the riches of his good character, good intentions, good will, good love, great mercy and loving-kindness or not? For, this is the purpose for which, God has saved us, so that He may show-us-off, as testimonies of His virtues, of His goodness and of His gracious ways.

So, do you think that if God has purposed this, that He will also do it, through us? “Gird up you loins” / pick up your ground-sweeping coat, and get ready to run, because God has promised, through the apostle Paul’s words: “Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you]” ~1 Thess. 5:24. And even stronger:

God is not a man, that he should lie,
or is He a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it? ~Num. 23:19.

So, if this is God’s purpose in saving us – to show though us, the riches of His good character, the kindness of His good intentions, His good will, His pure love, His great mercy and never ending love, and to show-us-off, as testimonies of these virtues of His, and to show the goodness and grace of His ways through us – then it seems to me to be far above “not letting the devil steal our faith and thereby steal our soul”!

Selah – pause and calmly think of that.

For our goodness’ sake!

So now, let’s look at that “all too familiar” scripture, with this correct background of comprehension, knowing God’s purpose to our salvation, that it’s to show us off, for our goodness sake!

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them” ~Eph. 2:8-10.

Our salvation is God’s gift to us. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” ~Rom. 6:23. A gift cannot be earned, it must be given. So, how can this gift of salvation be received?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” ~Rom. 3:23-25.

Let’s look at the terms of that scripture, and we’ll see how to receive this gift of salvation:

~all have sinned: as I’ve written: by our bodies’ motives and minds’ dictates.

~fall short of the glory of God: our old and previous nature, before believing the gospel, is that of a rebellious child who’s been given up by their Father, because of their rebellion; and in this state we don’t even recognize goodness/glory, let alone practice it!

So, in that state, we’ve fallen short of showing any original goodness, or fallen short of the glorious goodness that God intends to show through us.

~justified by His grace as a gift: “justified” = wrongs’-correction and a guilt-free-state; and “by His grace as a gift” = the new nature: “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses”, …even though we were dead in trespasses and sins, He made us alive to Himself in Christ.

Divine justification and eternal wrongs correction, is the grounds for our conscience coming alive to God – our wrongs being corrected in the body of Christ, where He took the guilt and penalty of our sin, to free our conscience.

So, salvation comes as a gift – God making us alive to Himself, through our faith in the gospel. Because it’s:

~through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The gospel is God’s buy-back plan = redemption. If you’ve lost something and you have to replace it, it will cost you something. Well, if we’d lost our place with God, having become estranged from Him as rebels, then a price had to be paid to regain our place with Him = Christ’s sacrificial death. This IS the gift: Christ himself.

~whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood. “propitiation” = sacrificial payment, restoring what was lost. Well, God “put Christ forward” as the gift – as our gift of deliverance from our old, rebellious nature, as the gift of our deliverance from “the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience” unto whom we were yoked in blindness, due to our old nature’s rebellion.

But God.., opened our eyes to receiving the gift of salvation, by the sacrificial and love-ridden gift of His Son! “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” ~John 6:40.

For the sacrificial gift of Christ, is “by His blood” – the very life-blood of the Son of God, poured out upon the earth, as irrefutable evidence that the payment of heaven has been made on earth – our sins are forgiven through His blood; our conscience is set free from guilt through His blood and our obedience is made complete through our faith in His blood.

There is no other way that we can “perfect our faith” than to offer our consciences to God, and rely on the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, and the renewing power of the Spirit “on the Blood” as He takes the Word of God and “stands us up” to the spiritual realities of our times, giving us the divine gifts, to soar over our difficulties, challenges and opportunities for victory.

So, to “save your soul by making your faith overcome the devil’s temptations” is way out of the realm of anyone’s ability, for “even the archangel Michael didn’t rebuke satan, but said: the Lord rebuke you” ~Jude 1:9.

That is to say: we have God’s power to overcome, through our faith in God, but not through our faith in our faith.

~whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. We have no other way, but God’s way. Christ is the gift. Eternal salvation is “the issue”. And the purchase price of our faith, by God’s grace, is the way we receive God’s eternal life: “to be received by faith”.

“For you are saved by (God’s) grace through (your) faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift” ~Eph. 2:8.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him, graciously give us all things?

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?

“Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who therefore, shall separate us from the love of Christ? ~Rom. 8:31-35.

The apostle Paul’s logic in this scripture from Romans 8, is that: If God did it – saving us through His Son’s work – then only God could undo it. That is to say: God’s grace will stay the same and will always be available for our salvation.

God’s grace is the way that He loves us, and has loved us and set us free from sin, in Christ; also: how He’s set us up for victory in Christ and makes us holy.

Now that we have a true idea of how God achieved our salvation in Christ, let’s return to the proper context of 1 Peter chapter one:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in the heavens for you.

“You are being protected by the power of God, and are guarded through (your) faith, in-view-of a salvation that’s ready to be revealed at every latest, fitting moment” ~1 Pet. 1:3-5.

Nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ, because we trust in the gospel of Christ, not in our own ability to make our faith pure against any enemy’s assaults on our faith, for we are guarded by God’s power, through our faith in the real, true gospel of God’s grace.

The focus of our faith is on, in and through God, not on our need for more faith!

You may have learned to trust God, which all sincere believers will have learned in-and-for all sorts of circumstances and needs; but have you learned that God trusts you?

It’s the “faith of Christ” that we aim for, since He’s “the first-fruits of them that slept”. That is to say: He’s far much more than an example that we follow. He’s our life-source, and the focus of our convictions here on earth.

Quote: “I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God” ~ASV, and/or “I live by the faith of the Son of God” ~KJV, of the apostle Paul’s personal conviction.

Christ is the “God-Man”. The en-flesh-ment of God, made by God to be a man. He’s God-made-man, as we celebrate Him this Christmas. Why else was He born of a virgin, fulfilled over 300 prophecies by His coming into this earth, was raised form the dead, and is now glorified in the heavens, watching out for your faith, to honor it:

Merry Christmas

Life, Love & Unity

A Discussion Forum on Life, Love & Unity

Category Archives: Unity

Focus!

What if..?

Commissioned as Priests

Kingdom Culture and the Prophetic Voice

Since God Did It, You Can Trust Him

God’s Child-Play Army

Exposing the Death Cult

Vision, for the Church

Rest Your Hope and Faith in God