so i was writing in my journal tonight that i had blogged about the deuteronomy thing and was underlining 2 tim 1.9 in my bible when all of a sudden it hit me:
"[For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago]."(emphasis added)
"a vocation of holiness" wow...God wants our vocation--that thing we do daily to be of holiness. **
and then i stumble across this verse in 2 tim 2.4
"No soldier when in service gets entangled in the enterprises of [civilian] life; his aim is to satisfy and please the one who enlisted him."
dang...again...so it reminds me of David and Uriah (Bathsheba's 1st hubby)...1} David did not follow God by going out to war like He as King was supposed to do> when You don't follow where God is leading--you can get messed up. 2} David messed up--when you're not where God is, your flesh is in control and you come to a point where you wonder how you got there in the first place...well, for starters, you didn't follow God and GPS (God Protection Services) doesn't work outside His boundaries 3}Uriah was a man like David, after God's heart and he understood what it meant to be a soldier> no matter who it is telling you to do something, even if that thing is a pleasurable as getting a night with your wife, i mean seriously what man would love a free night of sex with his wife--you have to know what Your calling is and what God has called you to and stand by it...don't just listen to somebody cause they're in leadership, they may not be right...you have to follow God> which is what Uriah did 4} David got entangled in civilian affairs (literally) and when you mess up and your aren't following the voice of God--people get hurt 5}look at how it affected David's lineage and how he couldn't do the one thing he wanted--build the temple.
God is not playing around when he says don't tolerate sin--don't compromise my Word. He doesn't joke around, especially with those who are drawn into a leadership position. When you mess up, He doesn't smack your hand and sit you in a corner--when you mess up because you didn't follow him, because you compromised your priorities and your vocation was no longer of holiness but of the flesh...people can get hurt--lives--and it's because of one mistake we made that can ruin someone else's life.
He continues to make His point in verses 21-23
"21So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.
22Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness (all that is virtuous and good, right living, conformity to the will of God in thought, word, and deed); [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace (harmony and concord with others) in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.
23But refuse (shut your mind against, have nothing to do with) trifling (ill-informed, unedifying, stupid) controversies over ignorant questionings, for you know that they foster strife and breed quarrels."
like...dang 2.0
ciao'
bethany
**dictionary.reference.com
vo·ca·tion [voh-key-shuhn]
–noun
1.a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.
2.a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
3.a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life.
4.a function or station in life to which one is called by God.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
...//a new revelation...dang
so i've been studying the Bible looking for verses for another reason other than the one i'm going to share with you now and i come across deuteronomy...mainly a book of law telling you what and not to do regarding literally it seems everything in life.
so i'm reading in chapter 18 and it's talking about the levitical priests and how they're to live their lives and i keep reading all the way up to 26 before i stop and have a selah moment... (pause and think about what you just read)
i was astounded as to the detail of God and the topics He mentions and i know that some people would look at the literal meaning of the scriptures and say "well, Jesus abolished the law" well yes thank you He did and i'm very grateful because stubborn kids who didn't do what their parents said were stoned to death.
in fact lots of people were killed immediately for things they did and it was a way to rid the city of evil.
so i'm like wow Holy Spirit what are you saying?
God wrote this law not just literally but spiritually...okay try and follow me here
He has all these things He doesn't allow and says to punish people (usually by death) when they commit the crime. Some deeds...people are forgiven, but it's eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand kinda thing...they're still punished just not put to death, but there are very specific things God puts to death and what i kept seeing over and over was that God is very black and white...sin is not tolerated at all...there is no compromise...you get rid of the evil immediately.
i'm looking at a situation where the rebellious kid...his parents take him out to the gates and the elders judge the situation...now a days, the mom's all like "no, he's just a kid, it's harmless, he'll grow out of it, he didn't mean to do it." cause she doesn't want her son to well...die...the dad's like "listen, just don't do it again okay buddy?"...
the Bible lays out for us that YOU DO NOT TOLERATE SIN!!! NO MATTER WHAT IT'S CALLED!!! we've come to this whole permissible tolerable compromising way of life that is destroying the family and the body of Christ as a whole. we say "drinking isn't really bad, just getting drunk is." or "i don't gossip, i just make sure people know how to 'pray' for others" and so forth, you know what i'm talking about...and then there's the unforgivable "i can't believe they've had sex before they got married" or "gays are going to hell" or "she's a prostitute" or other crap that's more physically represented than stuff we can hide inside or in the privacy of our home.
seriously...SIN IS SIN NO MATTER WHAT IT'S CALLED!!! God doesn't have this list of tolerable and intolerable sin He says HEY THIS IS NOT TOLERABLE IT'S SIN IT'S AN ABOMINATION AND YOU NEED TO RID YOUR LIFE OF IT.
Okay so don't go out and start stoning people now...but examine your life
what am i allowing that is compromising to my relationship with God?
am i reading books, watching tv shows, movies or listening to music that satisfies my flesh and stirs up lustful thoughts or emotions?
have i made a list of things that i tolerate that God doesn't?
look at the fact that God wants us to hunger and thirst after righteousness for His name sake so we can dwell in His presence forever...He wants us to be holy as He is holy...to be a vessel useful for the master
there are things that others may be allowed to do, or do because they think it's okay but if you are choosing to be a leader in this generation, or if you so dare to profess that you are a Christian to the world, than there is a standard that we must operate our lives by and that standard is found in the Word of God.
ask the Holy Spirit right now to show you things in your life that you must "stone to death" and dispose of immediately so that your relationship with God can become one in which He abides in daily. this may mean that you break off friendships, relationships, throw things out that cost a lot of money, or something else but keep your eyes on the eternal value of things...Jesus...He's so worth it.
people may laugh, they won't understand, they'll get offended and become angry or bitter...but truth will set them free...will set you free...and the truth is found in His Word.
i encourage you friends...
[For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago]. (2 timothy 1.9)
ciao'
bethany
so i'm reading in chapter 18 and it's talking about the levitical priests and how they're to live their lives and i keep reading all the way up to 26 before i stop and have a selah moment... (pause and think about what you just read)
i was astounded as to the detail of God and the topics He mentions and i know that some people would look at the literal meaning of the scriptures and say "well, Jesus abolished the law" well yes thank you He did and i'm very grateful because stubborn kids who didn't do what their parents said were stoned to death.
in fact lots of people were killed immediately for things they did and it was a way to rid the city of evil.
so i'm like wow Holy Spirit what are you saying?
God wrote this law not just literally but spiritually...okay try and follow me here
He has all these things He doesn't allow and says to punish people (usually by death) when they commit the crime. Some deeds...people are forgiven, but it's eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand kinda thing...they're still punished just not put to death, but there are very specific things God puts to death and what i kept seeing over and over was that God is very black and white...sin is not tolerated at all...there is no compromise...you get rid of the evil immediately.
i'm looking at a situation where the rebellious kid...his parents take him out to the gates and the elders judge the situation...now a days, the mom's all like "no, he's just a kid, it's harmless, he'll grow out of it, he didn't mean to do it." cause she doesn't want her son to well...die...the dad's like "listen, just don't do it again okay buddy?"...
the Bible lays out for us that YOU DO NOT TOLERATE SIN!!! NO MATTER WHAT IT'S CALLED!!! we've come to this whole permissible tolerable compromising way of life that is destroying the family and the body of Christ as a whole. we say "drinking isn't really bad, just getting drunk is." or "i don't gossip, i just make sure people know how to 'pray' for others" and so forth, you know what i'm talking about...and then there's the unforgivable "i can't believe they've had sex before they got married" or "gays are going to hell" or "she's a prostitute" or other crap that's more physically represented than stuff we can hide inside or in the privacy of our home.
seriously...SIN IS SIN NO MATTER WHAT IT'S CALLED!!! God doesn't have this list of tolerable and intolerable sin He says HEY THIS IS NOT TOLERABLE IT'S SIN IT'S AN ABOMINATION AND YOU NEED TO RID YOUR LIFE OF IT.
Okay so don't go out and start stoning people now...but examine your life
what am i allowing that is compromising to my relationship with God?
am i reading books, watching tv shows, movies or listening to music that satisfies my flesh and stirs up lustful thoughts or emotions?
have i made a list of things that i tolerate that God doesn't?
look at the fact that God wants us to hunger and thirst after righteousness for His name sake so we can dwell in His presence forever...He wants us to be holy as He is holy...to be a vessel useful for the master
there are things that others may be allowed to do, or do because they think it's okay but if you are choosing to be a leader in this generation, or if you so dare to profess that you are a Christian to the world, than there is a standard that we must operate our lives by and that standard is found in the Word of God.
ask the Holy Spirit right now to show you things in your life that you must "stone to death" and dispose of immediately so that your relationship with God can become one in which He abides in daily. this may mean that you break off friendships, relationships, throw things out that cost a lot of money, or something else but keep your eyes on the eternal value of things...Jesus...He's so worth it.
people may laugh, they won't understand, they'll get offended and become angry or bitter...but truth will set them free...will set you free...and the truth is found in His Word.
i encourage you friends...
[For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago]. (2 timothy 1.9)
ciao'
bethany
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