Insolomonsporch's Blog

“For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?” 1Cor 3:3 AMP

                                                                                          

There is a great need today for the Body of Christ to wake up and recognize the struggle that still ensues between the natural and the spirit.  The goal being – once discerned, to cooperate with the leading of the Spirit of God and the word to submit more fully to God – that His victory would be manifested over the flesh whether in an individual or in a church fellowship.

How can one know such a struggle is raging?  Because there can be no denying the present envying, jealously, wrangling, and factions in operation among us.  That’s right! If you are witnessing in your fellowship or in your person the outbreak of such things – it indicates behavior after a human standard, that is like mere unchanged men.  In other words, the natural or flesh life is rising its head in contention against the spiritual or supernatural life!

The first step, however, is to discern the actual nature of the behavior being seen.  See it with clarity. The Book of James (Jam 3:11-18) gives much help towards recognizing this struggle.  It shows us that as the Body of Christ our life should be singular – of one type.  We should not simultaneously manifest the flesh life and the spiritual life. A fountain does not simultaneously bring forth fresh water and bitter water!

James counsels that if bitter jealousy, envy, and contention is present – not to pride ourselves on it and be in defiance of and false to the Truth.  James postures this behavior as a superficial type of wisdom that is not like that which comes down from above – instead it is earthly (read of the flesh which is fashioned from the dirt), unspiritual (animal), and even devilish!

Take a moment now to remember that the flesh and the spirit, the natural and the supernatural, the carnal and the spiritual – these are words that describe our two natures. We at once have a natural fallen nature, but if we are saved we have also the redemptive nature of Jesus Christ living in us.  These natures are totally adversarial. They are opposed to each other. As we allow one to rule over us – the other is suppressed and impotent.  If we as a Body in Christ, or as an individual display behavior that is not spiritual – it indicates that our flesh is ruling and in charge of us.  This should not be so!  As that occurs it means we are resisting, or denying the life of Christ provisioned within us!  We are no different at that moment than Peter who denied Christ three times!  This is what the Body of Christ needs to wake up to!  What nature are we truly manifesting?  Is it our old fallen nature – where we behave according to a human standard and like mere unchanged men?

If that is the case what you will hear within a fellowship will be much opinion, political correctness, debate and factions even wrestling over entitlement, rights, and secularist beliefs that reflect a worldly influence.  Thinking will be aligned with the philosophies of the systems of the world, and carry virtually nothing of the life or Spirit or substance of Jesus Christ.  Reasoning, analysis, and strategies of the soul will inflate every effort, while faith and the leading of the Spirit will carry virtually no weight.  Prayer will be present and focused, but only as a means to ask for blessing upon a work after the fact of its inspiration.  It will not fully carry the power of the Spirit in freedom to be a demonstration of the Kingdom of God.

In contrast, if the Spirit is reigning in a fellowship or in an individual, you will see it evidenced in the wisdom that is from above.  You will see behaviors postured in purity (they are undefiled), peace-loving, courteous, considerate and gentle. This Spirit led behavior is willing to yield to reason (wisdom of the living word – not man’s reason), it is full of compassion (compassion from the nature of Christ versus the world’s sympathy), and it is full of good fruits (fruits from the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling freely within). This Spiritual wisdom is also wholehearted, straightforward, impartial and unfeigned.  It is free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity – just as was the life of Abraham spoken of in Romans 4:19-24. (Abraham was postured to inherit the promises of God because he first of all believed God was able and mighty to keep His promise, so Abraham hoped in faith because human reason for hope was dead in him!  Thus it was accorded to him as righteousness – and for us as well!) 

So why is this recognition needful?  Why is such discernment imperative? Because in these last days the enemy is posturing with his deception to attempt to deceive even the saints.  His end run goal is to deceive the church – the Body of Christ into believing they are walking in the Spirit when in fact they are still operating according to the flesh.  He can then bring the Body under judgment, because only where it has operated according to the Spirit is there no charge that can be brought against it.  If the church is actually relying on itself – it own soul (rational processes, will, emotions) and not relying on the Spirit of God – it cannot bring life, nor increase life.  Its works are in fact then dead, and it will stand condemned.

The key becomes discerning the nature that one is exhibiting, as a fellowship or as an individual.  If there is behavior marked by wrangling and factions and envy and jealousy – then indeed the behavior is unspiritual and of the flesh.  The remedy is to realize that we have remained unspiritual, and to bring every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God – to God as captive, as an arrested form of thinking. We then bring our thinking into the obedience of Christ – that we as a Body will conform to the Image and likeness of Christ – even His thinking, and believing and doing.  It is there that we experience unity with Him.  There, we are His and He is ours!

It is in this union and communion with God that love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, so we walk in confidence for the day of judgment ahead –because as He is so are we in this world. (1Jn 4:17)

Shalom!

“The [Holy] Spirit and the Bride ( the church, the true Christians) say, Come! And let him who is listening say, Come!  And let everyone come who is thirsty [who is painfully conscious of his need of those things by which the soul is refreshed, supported, and strengthened]; and whoever [earnestly desires to do it, let him come, take, appropriate, and drink the water of Life without cost.”  Rev 22:17

You have no doubt heard of a ground swell… well there is a heaven swell rising!  A call to come and receive, and in many cases to return to the Lord!

This call ushers forth from heaven – but it is rising in intensity.  Its urgency and power are rising to overcome distractions and the draw of everyday life!  We are being called forth – to come… and it is the song of the Bride and the Spirit spanning the realms of heaven and earth – the spiritual and the natural.  Can you hear it?

Why This Call?

The Call of Elijah is intensifying:

From Luke 1:16-17 we see the mandate of the Spirit of Elijah operating upon John the Baptist in power.  He prophesied that the hearts of the father’s would be turned back to the children, and the disobedient incredulous and un-persuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which is the holy love of the will of God] – in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state]. (How many of us know someone who fits in this description? Be encouraged and pray!)

This is the very swirling spiritual climate that is rising to an imminent crescendo even now!  To call back the very spirits of men who have been distant, disconnected, and disobedient to God!  To call those who have never known Him. But what a picture of the blessing of restoration coming upon all those who are called to be sons of glory!

Here is the intention: Is 15:30 says "…In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in[trusting] confidence shall be your strength…”

In the past, Israel refused this call to return.  Some would say then that this call is null and void as it was refused.  But if you look at Eph 2:14-16 you will see that Jesus provided for ONE BODY in Himself for both Jew and Gentile.  He broke down the wall of division between us. It says He reconciled to God both Jew and Gentile, united in a single body by means of His cross.  That is His body.  Where this invitation was previously only extended to Jews now includes us gentiles – in one body.  So that the Lamb’s wife spoken of in Rev 21:9 depicts the marrying together of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel and the foundation stones of the twelve disciples – together, as one Holy City of God! One future, one destiny, One Body in Christ as the Holy City of Jerusalem!

Elijah’s call to return does not ignore the Jew or the Gentile. It is an open call! (Whoever earnestly desires to do it – see Rev 22:17 above!)Though many Jews will not hear until they finally look upon Him Whom they pierced, and then they will repent – the call is out there now for as many who will hear!

What is the Bride’s part?  She is to be an earthly mouthpiece amplifying this call on the earth.  What heaven breathes – she reiterates and agrees with. What heaven whispers – she is to cry out from the rooftops and in the city gates!To all who hunger and thirst…

The Lord is reaching out like a heavenly round-up, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared in spirit, adjusted, disposed and placed in the right moral state! Let the Spirit and the Bride say come! Let the people say, “Yes Lord!  Even so come Holy Spirit!”

Can you hear it? To do so — You must be listening!

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“Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion; bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul!” Amp Ps 103:22

“[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasoning and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),” Amp 2Cor 10:5

“Whoever finds his[lower life] will lose it [the higher life] and whoever loses his [lower] life on My account will find it [the higher life].”  Amp Mt 10:39

What is the purpose and benefit for bringing every thought captive to Christ Jesus for the believer?  What is the reason for needing to do so?

The reason, the purpose for doing so… is that in no other way is it possible for us to walk in the spirit, nor to live according to the spirit of Christ.  If I do not bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ – then I am merely indulging my own thoughts: my own natural thoughts.

Think of this – the Kingdom of God has been expressed as God’s rule in the hearts and minds of men.  This is attested to by Ps 103:22 above.  For a work to be God’s work – it must be in a place where He has dominion.  If God does not have dominion in our thinking and in our heart – His works cannot and are not coming forward.  They are

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simply man’s works originating out of man’s heart and mind upon which we then ask the blessing of God as an aftermath.  They are thoughts derived from man’s natural or lower life.  No matter how we try to dress them up, or blow the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them – they are unchanged.  They are flesh.  And from them we reap only flesh and destruction.

It has taken me a long time to really understand that my life is not going to produce a work of God.  My life is natural.  But if I continually, and daily, yield it to God as a living sacrifice – He can bring supernatural things out of me, and they can yield fruit of righteousness for His Kingdom.  They can do this even as I reside here in a tent of flesh on this earth.  In fact, God desires that this happen – to bring glory to His Name!  It is a sweet fragrance to Him – of my offering my lower life daily – that His life can fill me and flow through me!  It is the poignant truth of me losing my lower life on His account.  But I must really lose it – lose sight of it – forget about it!  I must not hold it in escrow somewhere and game the system…

Now think about this same thing, in terms of the Sermon on the Mount – the Be-attitudes.  They are really the attitudes of Christ’s heart.  They are Kingdom attitudes – being exported to this realm by the power of God. As we examine Matthew 5:2-20, we can witness in Jesus’ words the very message of the Kingdom of God.  We can see that He is providing a template of His own thinking, His own heart not only as a window of insight and understanding – but as a way of walking into Kingdom living – even as we live in this world!  It is a pathway! But you see – these are only possible as you and I bring every thought captive to His obedience.  There is no other way to access these states of blessing and joy in Christ – except by the laying down of our own thought-life, in obedience to Christ.

If I don’t bring my thoughts captive – I will continue to live my own life and even be deceived – thinking I have found my higher life and am living it in Christ (Jas 1:21-25).  If I do bring my thoughts captive, then the Kingdom is able to enter and flow through me and the life I live is the life of the spirit of Christ – even while I walk in this body of flesh.  This is the victory that Jesus has already secured and provide at the Cross – which waits upon our obedience to Him.

Why is this thought-life so important?  Why does it need to be continually yielded to Christ’s obedience?  Because it was man’s thought-life that caused the fall of man in the Garden.  While the dew of the dawn of man’s fellowship with God was still glistening visibly on every leaf – while the words of God still echoed across the terrain – while the fragrance of fellowship with the Father still clung to their own garments, Eve was successfully turned from sanctified thinking to corruption.  The point?  Without laying down our thought-life daily, without bringing it under captivity – we are as easily turned to walk in the flesh as Eve.  The apple has already been eaten – eyes have been opened to good and evil, and the flesh still skulks about (inspired of course by our enemy).

Without this taking thoughts captive, we have no prayer of walking out a life in the spirit, a life of victory in Christ.  We thus nullify His sacrifice and provision.  We make it of no effect!

Christ has made a way, through His suffering on the Cross, for us to walk in victory, in light, in Him.  It is a way of obedience – where we choose continuously: moment by moment His life, His thoughts, His way, His obedience – in delightful captivity to Him!  This is the way – walk ye in it…

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8 Amp

“And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross.”  Col 1:20 Amp

“When Jesus has received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” Jn 19:30 Amp

“Mercy and loving kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Ps 85:10

In a divine moment, at the Father’s perfect choosing, came an explosive event — beyond known dimension, beyond time, and beyond our comprehension.  Like a cosmic collision releasing unchartered destiny, a nuclear exchange, greater than any force before encountered – came the meeting of Christ in His death on the Cross, and the satisfaction of the Father’s heart.  This is where – Righteousness and Peace Kissed!

Why?

At the Cross of Christ – every legitimate need we have has been met.  It has been provided for and underwritten in cost by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Every sin that we have committed or will ever commit has been washed by the blood of the Lamb.  The note (concerning every judgment that could ever be made against us) has been cancelled and blotted out and wiped away – with all its legal decrees and demands, and Jesus has set it aside and cleared it completely out of our way by nailing it to His cross. (Col 2:14)

It is finished! (Jn 19:30)

Previously…where there was judgment against us – there is now mercy for us.  Where there was separation – there is now loving-kindness.  Where there was error – there is now truth.  In Christ – righteousness and peace have kissed each other.  In Christ – all righteous judgment is satisfied.  Because of His sacrifice – I am restored in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  I can enter in and abide in Their Presence and find peace!  Peace for my soul!  Soul peace.  The Kiss of peace made by Christ on the Cross.

Where before I had to scrap and scrape for a place to belong, a temporal place of limited provision – now in Christ I have a place of belonging now and forevermore – of unlimited provision and promise. (2Cor 1:19-20)

Now, by faith in Christ and what He has done, I can lean with my entire personality and soul on God in absolute trust and confidence – in His power, wisdom, and goodness!  I can find rest for my soul! (Mt 11:29)  And there is soul harmony to be had, as I allow the life of Christ to rule in my heart and mind, and decide all things with finality.  He is my Holy Umpire – calling all the shots!  Thus, I can live at peace – with Him and in Him! (Col 3:15)

This is the place of abiding, of oneness in Christ. (Jn 15:4-14)  It has been readied.  It stands with a welcome door that is open before you.  Can you not see it?  What are you waiting for … enter this place… and find joy and strength in the abiding Presence of the Lord! (1Chr 16:11, 27)

Tetelestai!  Christ has done it all!

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“Then they said, ‘What are we to do, that we may [habitually] be working the works of God? [What are we to do to carry out what God requires?]’” Jn 6:28 Amp

BELIEVE/CLEAVE/TRUST/ RELY ON/HAVE FAITH

Have Active Dependence

“Am I walking in the Spirit? Or according to the flesh?  Am I pleasing God?”

These are some of the questions that disturb believers… that cause uncertainty for us.  But there is a place to set our focus.  There is a way to arrange ourselves that leads to fruitfulness as a believer.  Let’s explore this a bit.

CHOOSING – YOUR ACTIVE CHOICE IS IMPORTANT!

All the way back in Deut 30:19, the Lord tells His people … “…I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendents may live.”  The Lord never takes away our choice.  He is always desiring us to engage, to connect, to choose.  His preference is for it to be life and blessings – synonymous  with Him of course.  He is life!  All life proceeds from Him!

The answer given to the question above in John 6:28 is thus answered in John 6:29: “…This is the work (service) God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent [that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger].”  The Messenger of course is Jesus.  When we actively depend on Him – we are also depending on His Spirit.  It is as simple as that.

Galatians 3 provokes an exploration of this issue even further – but let me pinpoint it all with Gal 3:5.  “Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard?”  Essentially, does the Holy Spirit work because of our reliance on our own ability to meet some religious standard or on us relying in faith on the Messenger – Jesus Christ?  Choice is involved here – it is one which either leads to life and blessing, or death and curses.  Which way will I rely?  What am I setting my hope upon?  Do I think I am saved because of what I can do and because of trusting in a legal guide as my source?  Or do I trust in the gospel message I heard which testifies of God’s Messenger, Jesus, and I put my faith in Him?

One more point about the importance of your active choice – your active dependence.  Song of Solomon 8:6 is one of my favored poetic Scriptures.  It says: “Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as hard and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead).  Its flashes are the flashes of fire, a most vehement flame [the very flame of the Lord]!”

While the Lord will not divest you of you choices – He does desire most vehemently that you choose Him!  Even to the contest between love and death, Him or eternal damnation – He lets you choose.  If you choose Him, you have also chosen love and life!  And that is why love is as strong as death – so that you must choose – one or the other.  Only in your choosing can you avoid the other.

What is the work that God requires of you?  Desires you to do?  Believe in the One Whom He has sent.  Cleave, trust, and rely on Him.  It is because of your believing in this way that the Holy Spirit works powerfully in you – because you trust the message and the Messenger!

This is the way you know you are in the Spirit and walking by the Spirit … by where you are continually choosing to set your trust.  Now – set Him as a seal upon your heart, and on your arm – He is your best defense and much much more!

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“The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.”  Prov 1:7 Ampl

Every relationship has a place of beginning – an entryway so to speak, and a relationship with the Lord is no different. Unfortunately, as we launch out to know the Lord we rarely if ever begin according to His Word and direction – thus we struggle in areas we do not necessarily need to struggle.  It is often much later that we really come to know the Lord – and we discover Him in deeper ways – according to His Word.

He is all good! –  and this moves me to share a couple things about knowing Him!

You can rely on God’s word – today — and you can bring it before God to remind Him of it.  In this way, you kind of present a “back-stage pass.”  It gives you access to Him. Please allow me to demonstrate…

Our reference Scripture, Prov 1:7 gives some vital insight.  It shows us that reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is a gateway or entrance to knowing Him.  It is the starting point and substance of knowing Him.  Unfortunately – fools won’t find this route.  But it is here for all those willing to submit.

So as I want to know Him more I concede… , “Lord, I doubt that I possess adequate reverential fear for You, so I ask… bring me to the place of understanding where I possess the proper perspective about You according to Your truth, that I may know You as You desire to be known!  Lord, help me to revere and fear You…!”

My confidence is that the Lord desires this event even more than we do – and He will do this very thing!  As we then grow and expand in reverential fear – we expand in knowledge and experience of Him.  Implied in all of this is that we are now using the Word (Scriptures) to meet with Him and understand Him.  Given this case, we might begin to meditate on a verse like Ps 25:14.  After all, our hunger for Him is increasing greatly – and this looks like a Scripture that will yield great rewards.

Psalm 25:14 says, “The secret [of the sweet satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.”

Guys, this is a promise you can count on!  Those who fear the Lord – can enter secret intimacy with the Lord.  They can be a party to secret counsel from God.  God will share Himself and His thoughts with this person (that fears Him)!

Knowing the Lord in this way means you will know His heart, and mind and will.  You will encounter His HEART on matters that He wants to share!

As you and I come into the presence of the Lord, experiencing Him, knowing Him, seeing how He is, — we are changed into His likeness, from glory to glory!  As the Lord loves righteousness (integrity, virtue, and uprightness) – we love righteousness.  As He hates lawlessness (injustice and iniquity) – we hate lawlessness!  And the anointing that is the Lord’s – that exultant joy and gladness from the Father flows over us as we are one with Him! (Hebrews 1:9)

What began as reverential fear for Him, wisdom to approach Him, and hunger for Him erupts in a exultant joy IN HIM and WITH HIM! (Jn 17:13) We have begun to experience the choice part of knowledge of Him!  We have connected in relationship with the author and perfector of our faith!  The very God of the Universe has let us in to know Him!  This is glorious indeed!

I challenge you to launch out to know your God in this way if you have never done so before.  Even if you have been a believer for many years – believe now that there are facets of the Lord which you are meant to explore and connect with! Experience Him anew in the tent of meeting – according to His word and His promises that are yes and amen for those in Christ Jesus!

Blessings today!

“When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no [such room] or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].”  Eph 4:26-27

It often passes our notice that to allow our anger to persist through the night – is sin.  It is not sin to allow anger to arise, it is sin to allow it to persist.  To give it a place, or give it quarter, or room.  That is what is sin.

One time the Lord gave me a picture of sin – like bird poop on my head.  If a bird ever pooped on your head, you would be rushing to clean it off!  Quickly!  But we are not so quick to clean anger off of our emotional plate, so to speak.  Imagine that bird poop lingering.  Like egg on a plate it dries, becomes glued to your hair.  It’s harder to remove.

Have you ever had a Tupperware container that had stinky food in it?  The container picks up the odor of that food with time.  Afterwards, there is nothing to be done but to throw that container away!  It has been ruined for other use.

So why is giving anger a place that extends beyond that night so grievous to the Lord that it becomes sin? Because this is an indulgence of our flesh that gives room for the enemy to establish a beachhead, a foothold of operation in our lives.  He is given quarter – room, by our consent whether intended or not.  By not quickly discharging our anger as the word says, we have met the conditions for the enemy to have a place in our emotional component where he is legally able to now interfere, corrupt, and taint our perspective on the situation.  We have held up a large sign of welcome to every evil perspective and its cohort to feed into that situation, making it more and more difficult for a resolution to occur that is pleasing and in agreement with the Lord.  And yet, we have been the party who has made this possible. We have compromised the integrity of truth in our thinking and given access to thinking that exalts itself against the true knowledge of God! (2Cor 10:3-5)  We have muddied our own mental posture before the Lord by giving such quarter to the enemy. Now what you have surrendered to (that is your anger and the enemy’s feed-in) rules over your thoughts and the situation, until you repent… (Rom 6:16).

Now, there is another option for us all that is the greater point.  Situations of anger will come.  But they come so that we will deal with them according to the word and the Spirit of God.  They come so that we exercise a choice to overcome, and to draw down into ourselves the very heart of the word of God that transforms us right where we need it.  Then we become more than conquerors, not only of our own flesh but of the enemy as well. When we overcome our own disposition and anger through Christ, we are victors in the midst of our own struggle to not sin (to not let the sun go down on our anger), and we experience the joy of the Lord!  It is obedience to the Lord and the Father’s will that usher in the joy of the Lord.  It is indulging what gratifies the Spirit and not what gratifies my flesh that brings great joy!

So, clean off the slate of offense and clean your plate of your anger quickly!  Don’t wait for evening to even approach.  Do it now!  Be like a little child in your perspective on yourself:  be humble, lowly, loving, and forgiving!  Get the bird poop off while it is easy to do so, and have joy unspeakable in the process!