September 2017 "Dearly Beloved" Articles
Dearly Beloved 9/30/17 "A Mountain Top Experience"
A Mountain Top Experience
Dearly beloved, it would have been truly wonderful to have been with the Lord when he was on earth, wouldn’t it? The Apostle Peter was with him when he was transfigured and God showed him his glory.
II Peter 1:16-18: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.”
This was indeed a phenomenal experience; they saw the Lord transfigured before them, and heard God audibly speak: they were eyewitnesses of his majesty. What could be greater than that?
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/29/17 "Temporal Power Versus True Power"
Temporal Power Versus True Power
Dearly beloved, God’s limitless, unconditional love existed long before the narrow limits of man’s conditional love. He was Light far before the sun, moon, and stars were set in their courses. He created the heavens and the earth and life itself by His brilliant genius and by His almighty power. His supreme creative power existed pre-science and it still baffles the powers of human conception. The One True God spoke His Word and revealed the end from the beginning. This is the God who sent His Son to save us.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus was the Son of God by Divine conception and the Son of Man by natural birth; he was the second Adam.
Even though the Lord Jesus Christ possessed no temporal power, he became the high priest over the house of God forever according to the power of an endless life, who ever lives to make intercession for the saints. He has such vast power that not even the gates of hell (the grave, death) have the power to prevail against him. God raised him from the dead, never to die again.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/28/17 "Not a Bad Deal"
Not A Bad Deal
Dearly beloved, the word gospel means glad tidings, good news. Our Lord invited those who were weary and heavy laden to come unto him so that they might find rest. He was God’s messenger of peace. God sent him to offer himself for the sins of the world.
He publicly announced God’s terms for our acceptance: believe on him whom God has sent. His word is that of reconciliation between God and man. His law is the law of love. His sacrifice was supreme; that of his own life.
He believed God to accomplish God’s plan of justness so that we could be justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God set him forth to be a full payment through his blood. God said, “I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sins no more.”
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/28/17 "Growing in Confidence"
Growing in Confidence
Dearly beloved, if the Lord Jesus Christ could do nothing by himself, neither can we; but, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
The Father never left him alone because he always did the things that pleased Him.
If we are to have confidence in our Father we must assure (persuade) our hearts with what His Word says we are in Christ and do those things that please Him. We must think like He thinks about us; not believe what our flesh thinks about us. It was our Father's good pleasure to purpose who we are in Christ and freely give us all things with Him by grace.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/27/17 "Weak or Strong?"
Weak or Strong?
Dearly beloved, the Lord knows our frame; he knows that we are weak in the flesh. He knows our frailties; we are just dust.
Three times the Apostle Paul besought the Lord about a messenger of Satan that was his thorn in the flesh sent to buffet him.
The Lord told Paul, “’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfectly accomplished in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast even more in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may reside in me.’ Wherefore, I take pleasure in infirmities [weaknesses], in abuses, in obligations, in persecutions, in calamities for Christ, because when I am weak, then am I powerful.”
Beloved, all we can do is walk by believing, not by the senses. Our part is to believe what He says; the Lord’s part is to deliver us according to His Word.
Read more ...Deaarly Beloved 9/26/17 "Let's Take a Walk"
Let’s Take a Walk
Dearly beloved, as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so let us walk in him. What did we receive? We received Christ Jesus the Lord. Did we receive the person, or his name; what did we actually receive?
When we receive Christ Jesus the Lord, our Father freely gives us all things with him! He called us In Christ to acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave us salvation and the deposit of the gift of holy spirit, which is the spirit of sonship; in fact, He sealed us with it.
He gave us a standing before Him in Christ Jesus as holy and without blame, and He determined that we are unimpeachable in His sight. He forgave us our sins by the riches of His grace in the Beloved one. He highly favors us in Christ. He gave us sonship rights such as righteousness, redemption, sanctification, wisdom.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/25/17 "Corrupt or Sound?"
Corrupt or Sound?
Dearly beloved, our Father does not want us deceived by the serpent’s craftiness as Eve was. He does want our thinking processes corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
You cannot study darkness if you want to learn the truth; you must study the light of God’s Word if you are to have your eyes enlightened so that you know what to believe. Light dispels darkness. Darkness prevents us from seeing things clearly. God’s Word is light.
We are not to be conformed to the ideas, philosophies, religious views, political opinions, and world wisdom of this age; they will corrupt your thinking processes. If we decide to frame our thinking in this manner, we will not accommodate the spirit of God so that it can work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/20/17 "What Did You Say Your Name Was?"
What Did You Say Your Name Was?
We know a person or thing by its name. A name identifies or declares a person or thing so that it is known to us.
Whenever God names something He gives it a name that indicates its very character or nature. The name describes the person to us so that it can be known. God reveals Himself to us by His names in the scriptures so that we can know Him.
We are all known by different names or designations. We have our formal given name, various nicknames given by different people, our professional title, the name that we are known to our family, our marital status, etc. Each name speaks of a different relationship or attribute of that relationship.
The same is true of the names of God. We can live in the reality of the revelation knowledge He has given us concerning Him. Day by day we can live in His care for us due to His sustaining grace and power. We can be edified by His spirit and be led by His guidance.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/20/17 "Did Not Our Hearts Burn Within Us?"
Did Not Our Hearts Burn Within Us?
Dearly beloved,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” Ephesians 1:3
In the opening verses of Ephesians, God gives us revelation that takes your breath away. Ephesians 1:2 says, “…from God our Father” … and verse 3 tells us that He is “…the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. God fathered us both! We are both members of God’s household. We have an extremely privileged position, do we not?
God being Christ’s Father is unmistakable in Scripture. Christ is called the Son of God 50 times in the Four Gospels. Moreover, on several occasions, God Himself said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” Nothing could ever undo the reality of their relationship and, likewise, nothing could ever undo the reality that God is our Father.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/19/17 "Job, an Upright Man"
Job, an Upright Man
Dearly beloved, the book of Job gives us insight into the source of evil: “So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.” (Job 2:7 AV)
Who smote Job with sore boils all over his body? Satan was behind it, not God.
“Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” Job 1:9-12
Satan said that God put a hedge about Job, his house, and all he had. God blessed his work and increased his substance. Then Satan tempted God to exert His power to hurt Job. God’s answer to him is quite revealing. “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power...” The things that follow demonstrate this vividly.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/18/17 "Who Are You Going to Believe?"
Who Are You Going to Believe?
Dearly beloved, too often people blame God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, for what the so-called god of this world does.
For example, insurance companies describe calamities such as earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes as acts of God. The god of this world is behind this destruction; he made the world a wilderness.
Jesus Christ always did the Father’s will; he calmed storms, he never brought them on God’s People because of their sins.
In the book of Acts, chapter 27 God delivered Paul and all that were with him from a Euroclydon (a horrific hurricane-like storm) that overtook their ship. God did not bring the storm; He delivered them from it.
There is a record in Hebrews 2, which is most enlightening.
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself [Jesus Christ] likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14-15 AV)
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/17/17 "Fully Persuaded of Our Hope"
Fully Persuaded of Our Hope
Dearly beloved, even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we do not have to fear any evil because our Father and our Lord are with us. We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
The Father has told us the end from the beginning. When we walk by believing, we walk with our Father, believing His Word instead of the lies we are constantly fed by the adversary.
We hold fast to your confession of the hope without wavering. Why; because the giver of the promise can be trusted to fulfill His Word! Therefore, cast not away your confidence, which has great reward. We need to be patient and believe God at His Word until He sends Christ for us and he fulfills the Father’s will because in a little while Christ is coming; he will not be late!
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/16/17 "Right Believing"
Right Believing
Dearly beloved, since our Father reveals that whatever is not of believing is sin, what is right believing; what are we to believe about ourselves? Let’s look at a few examples beginning with this in Colossians.
.
The Father reveals that He delivered us from the power of darkness, and He has translated us into the kingdom of His dear (beloved) Son; in whom (His beloved Son, Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
Then what should we believe, beloved? That He delivered us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of His Beloved Son; that Jesus Christ did redeem us by his life, and we are forgiven! This is right believing. We should believe this way, think this way, act this way, and live in this reality.
Let’s look at another example in Romans 3. He reveals that now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested, even the righteousness of God which is by the believing of Jesus Christ unto all who believe, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation through believing in his blood (what he accomplished by the giving of his life); to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/15/17 "The Promise and the Prize"
The Promise and the Prize
Dearly beloved, may God’s Word be our only rule for believing until we see the Lord face to face, we are received up in glory, and he transforms these bodies of humiliation so that we have glorious bodies like his. May we live each day with the expectation of his glorious coming, the same as we expect the rising of the sun with each new day.
We must keep our eyes on Christ, who is the head of the body, and the Lord over all principality and power; not on the things of this evil world that vex us and wear us down as we see and hear them.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/14/17 "We Walk by Believing"
We Walk by Believing
Dearly beloved by the Father, there are many things people are concerned about today, but unfortunately, people do not see things as God does. While people are concerned with this sin or that, God reveals that “everything that is not from believing is sin.”
In the Garden, the serpent worked to deceive Eve from believing what God said and to convince her to believe what he said. She was deceived and convinced her husband to believe the serpent’s words, also. Adam was not seduced, he disobeyed. They both missed the mark, which is what sin is.
In the book of Revelation, we learn that our adversary the devil deceives the whole world. He works to deceive people to get them to believe his ideas, his lies, his words, instead of God’s.
The bottom line is that "everything that is not from believing is sin.” In the age of the grace of God and the mystery we should believe regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, in his accomplished work, and who God reveals that we are in Christ.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/12/17 "Think Like a Son of God"
Think Like a Son of God
Dearly beloved of the Lord, we don’t grow up into Christ in all ways by focusing on the weaknesses, shortcomings, and the failures of our flesh. There is nothing good in the flesh. We mortify the deeds of the body through the spirit.
“Spirit” is used In Romans 8:13 representing the complete new birth reality by the figure of speech synecdoche. Synecdoche puts a part for the whole, as when soul is used to represent the whole person. Here, in Romans 8:13, the word “spirit” is put for everything that we received in the new birth.
This includes not only the spirit of sonship and the spiritual ability to operate the nine manifestations of the holy spirit, but also our standing before God in Christ Jesus, our sonship rights and privileges as God’s children, our hope of obtaining the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; it is the all that is in all of us; all that is ours in Christ. Spirit is put for our completeness in Christ. As we walk in the complete reality of the new birth, we will mortify the deeds of the old man.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/12/17 "Growing Up in God's Family"
Growing Up in God’s Family
Dearly beloved of God, Christianity is our union with God in His family through the work of Christ Jesus our Lord. The wonderful revelation of the Father and His family is the greatest truth within the covers of the Bible. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. He commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He conceived the plan that made it possible to be born of His spirit so that we could be with Him and share in the fullness of His joy, His peace, His power, His abundance, and His pleasures forevermore.
He will send His Son to gather His children together on a day He has predetermined, a day that not even the Son knows, and we will forever be with our Father, His wonderful Son, and with all His children, our beloved brethren.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/11/17 "Whose Work is It?"
Whose Work is It?
You know, dearly beloved, religion has it all backwards. It is not man that works to reach God, it is God who works to reach us.
He sent His Son to do the work to save us. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
His Son said, “My [Christ’s] meat was to do the will of Him that sent him and to finish His work.” His last words were, “It is finished [the work God gave Him to do}.”
“For by grace are you saved through believing; and that [salvation] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of [our] works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus upon good works [Christ’s], which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them [the accomplishments of his work]."
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/10/17 "Just Words"
Just Words
Beloved of the Lord, when we put our believing in God’s words we are standing on holy ground, resurrection ground; we are standing in the presence of God.
When you write a letter does it express your heart, your will, your intentions? Of course, it does. The Word of God is no different; it expresses His heart, His will, and His intentions.
When the Lord Jesus was confronted about the resurrection, he said, “You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” God not only revealed His will to us, He has the power to perform it.
When God sent His angel to Mary to give her a message, the angel Gabriel greeted her saying, “Hail, highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.”
God tells us that in Christ we are highly favored and accepted in the Beloved. It does not matter whether God sent an angel to say it or He had it written by holy men of God; His Word expresses His will and He has the power to perform it.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/9/17 Not the End, Just the Beginning"
Not the End, Just the Beginning
Dearly beloved, where the spirit from the Lord Christ Jesus is there is liberty!
“Therefore, having been lifted up [into heaven] to the right side of God and having received the promise of the holy spirit from the Father, he has poured out this, which you see and hear.” Acts 2:33, the Working Translation by Rev. W. Cummins.
Luke 24:49 says, “And behold, I [the Lord Jesus Christ] send the promise of the Father upon you: but tarry you in Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.”
This is repeated in the record in Acts 1:4,5,8. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to this promise before his ascension into heaven.
He told the apostles that he would send the promised holy spirit, which was power from on high. He said they would be baptized with holy spirit, they would receive power when the holy spirit came upon them, and they would be his witnesses, not only in Jerusalem, but unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/8/17 "How to Get God's Attention"
How to Get God's Attention
Dearly beloved, do you know what gets God’s attention? When He finds someone that will listen to Him; that will hear what He says and obey it by believing; that gets His attention.
As His dearly beloved children we believe who we are in Christ, then we apply these truths in our walks with Him. As we believe God’s Word our perspective changes; we begin to look at situations from His point of view, instead of from a five senses perspective, or from a “world view”.
The moment we received the spirit of Christ within we were enabled with power from on high. We were born of His spirit. Each child of God receives the gift of holy spirit in the new birth and we may operate it for godly profit as God instructs us in His Word. He tells us that it is His good pleasure to work in us, to will and to do of His good pleasure. He does not need persuading, we do, so we persuade ourselves with His Word.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/7/17 "Take Up the Shield of Believing"
Take Up the Shield of Believing
Dearly beloved, we now stand in Christ Jesus as righteous, holy and without blame before our Father. We are accepted in the Beloved. Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Take up the shield of the right way of believing!
We are now free to live as dead men who were raised to life again. God gave us the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and we are sealed for the Day of Redemption when we will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ! Stand in the liberty wherewith Christ made us free!
Our adversary does not want us to know, much less believe these wonderful realities. He does not want us to understand our exalted position in Christ. He wants us blind, ignorant, deceived, and living in denial of these truths. Instead, arm yourself with the shield of the right way of believing with which you can extinguish all the fiery darts he throws at you. Believe the full measure of who you are in Christ, beloved.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/6/17 "Thessalonian Truths of Hope
Thessalonian Truths of Hope
Dearly beloved, our hope resides wholly on the return of Christ. Since Almighty God is the One that will determine when His Son returns and what he will do, we should believe what He reveals about it.
Christ will come for the Church of the Grace of God and gather it unto him in the air. Sometime after this, the Day of the Lord or Lord’s Day will begin to unfold on the earth. It is spoken of in the Old Testament and the New. The book of Revelation concerns this whole period, also. It is a period of God’s judgment. The Lord will come to the earth during this period. Zechariah 14 speaks about this coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are two groups of people we must consider; the ungodly and the children of God. The ungodly will not escape this time of judgment. The ungodly are called “the children of disobedience”, and referred to as being, “of the night” and “in darkness.”
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/5/17 "Now or Then"
Now or Then
Dearly beloved, thank God that this world is not our home, we are sojourning pilgrims in this world until our Lord, Christ Jesus, returns for us and calls us on high.
As Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sin, so we now sojourn in this evil world. As God led them into their Promised Land, so He will send Christ Jesus our Lord to lead us into the glory of the heavenlies. He will gather us together and snatch us up to meet him in the air.
If we thought carnally like natural men, perhaps we would be seduced by the endless lies we are fed from birth to the grave. We are vexed with his filthy communications today as Lot was vexed by seeing and hearing the wickedness of those in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/4/17 "Labor Day"
Labor Day
Happy Labor Day dearly beloved of God and by our Lord Jesus Christ!
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Why does it say, "Therefore"? Because Christ is coming back for us, both the dead in Christ and those of us who are alive and remain. We have the victory over sin and death because the Lord Jesus Christ gave it to us, beloved.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/3/17 "The Trial of Our Believing"
The Trial of Our Believing
Dearly beloved, God is with you right now; you are not alone, and He is for you, not against you. God’s presence and power are in you and He is always with you; our Father will never leave you alone. He said so Himself!
One of the names He used to reveal Himself was “the Lord is present.” Today He reveals that we are His habitation by the spirit. We are born of His spirit and He is always present.
In Christ Jesus, He gave us unlimited access to Him by His spirit and He encourages us to use it with boldness and confidence. We have a standing invitation before the Throne of Grace that we might receive mercy and grace to help in our time of need.
Read more ...Dearly Beloved 9/2/17 "The Truth and Temptation"
The Truth and Temptation
Dearly beloved, God has not changed, nor has how He works with people; He works with those who believe what He says. I might add, the adversary has not changed either.
God gave Adam His Word in Genesis 2:17, which expressed His Will, and in 3:1 the adversary first appears in the Word of God described as “the serpent” (by the figure of speech Hypocatastasis, which is the strongest figure of comparison.)
The serpent is the spirit-being that deceives the whole world; he is the liar, the deceiver, the accuser of God’s people, the hinderer, the murderer, the tempter, the thief who steals, kills, and destroys, the devil who oppresses people. He is darkness, not light, although he presents himself as an angel of light.
The serpent immediately comes to Eve in opposition to God by questioning His Word. He said, “Did God really say…?” knowing full-well what He said; his question was a set-up. He worked on Eve with his words, and she responded by adding, subtracting, and changing God’s Word until it was no longer what God said.
After that, the serpent shows his true colors and says, “You shall not surely die!” which completely contradicted what God said.
Dearly Beloved 9/1/17 "It's All in All of Us"
It's All in All of Us
Dearly beloved, far too many Christians do not know what Jesus Christ did for them, or what they have in him; their sonship rights, their spiritual ability, power and authority, the sharing relationship we have with Christ. Too many have not been taught about their glorious hope in Christ.
Beloved saints, the truth will make you free, it will not fail you when you really need it. Truth always works; not so with religion. Religion issues from man’s imagination, from his ideas and thoughts. It always revolves around the works of the flesh that that group says will make us acceptable to God.
On the other hand, godliness is a true, spirit based relationship between God and you. This spirit based relationship is based on the Lord Jesus Christ’s work, and all of it is available to us by the grace of God.
Read more ...