The Reality of Life Found in Christ Jesus Part 4 How Do We Get There?
Today there are a huge number of HOW TO and SELF-HELP books. In general, what they all have in common is they explain to the reader how to go from point A to point B following the steps the author believes is “THE WAY”. This writing is nothing like that.
In fact, I must tell you at the onset, that if you are looking for a step-by-step method of being cleansed on the inside and then being filled with God, you will NOT find His Absolute Truth in any book or article that gives you a step-by-step method. There is NO METHOD.
The reason being if there were a method then WE would be in control. We would determine our own course of action and would be independent of God. We would be following a method NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Only those who are led by the Holy Spirit in all things are the TRUE Children of God. This means we cannot decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, we must go to God and ask Him. Only God knows the beginning from the ending. HE is the One who knows the ultimate outcome of every thought and action. Therefore, only GOD knows what is truly right and wrong!
If we are honest with ourselves and with God, we must admit that when we read the 10 Commandments, we only think about the actions themselves. Yet Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that God looks on the heart and anyone who violates His “Commands” in their heart HAS ALREADY SINNED! The action may NEVER come into being, but the sin has been committed because it was received into the heart.
The ONLY WAY to OBEY the Commandments of God is to CLEANSE THE HEART of all sin!
If that has not been done, then no matter how much we attempt to comply with what WE THINK God has commanded us, we will still disobey Him in our heart. No amount of outward obedience will ever change the inside. The inside MUST be cleansed. If it is, then everything that cleansed person does will be clean and pure because that heart will only produce the same kind of nature that it is filled with; the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Now it would be nice if this would just happen to all of us when we are saved. Unfortunately, it does not. All we have to do is go to almost any church in the world to see this. If this purity of heart came about just because a person got saved and lived, then every church congregation would have those who have been saved for 20, 30 or even more years and they would be wonderful saints having no anxiety, fears, evil thoughts or desires, when we saw them we would be seeing Jesus Christ returned in the flesh, so to speak.
But going to all of these many churches, we would NOT find this to be the case. Instead, we would find many of the older people stuck in their ways, grumpy and soured like old wine left too long in the wineskin; it has become vinegar. There is no freshness, no childlike enjoyment of the Lord. There would not be the sweetness of Christ but exactly the opposite. In fact, these older believers would admit IF THEY WERE HONEST that they had little of the Fire of the Lord anymore and that they were just going through the motions.
Now please, I do speak in generalities. There will always be exceptions. There will be some real saints out there who truly have allowed Jesus to live His life in them. But that is just it; they are the EXCEPTION rather than the rule. And that is the point. If this blessed life of pure devotion to the Lord that can be seen in everything these saints think, say and do, then there would be many of them all over the world. But they are not there. In fact, in many places, there are none at all.
What does that mean? It means that either there are not really that many who are saved in the first place (this is true also) or we have a part in all of this to bring it to pass in our own lives! AND THAT is exactly what this article is going to speak about; what is our part that will bring about this kind of life Jesus speaks of in John 17 and Paul speaks about in Ephesians 1, 3 & 4 and especially in Romans 6 & 8? For if we are not truly living in that kind of experiential reality we have missed to abundant life promised to us in Christ Jesus.
II Peter 1: 3For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).4By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
6And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),
7And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
8For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
9For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This passage from II Peter is the “HOW TO LIVE LIKE A CHRISTIAN” in its simplest form. Peter explains to us what we must “do” in order to walk as we are supposed to walk on this earth. In order to comprehend all of this, we need to break it down into more digestible portions so we do not choke on deep spirituality of these words.
Let us start at the beginning and slowly go through these words, not allowing ourselves to miss our responsibility by skimming through too quickly or overlooking the TRUTH presented by Peter.
3For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).4By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.
Do we even believe these words to be true? God has given us EVERYTHING we need to live lives of GODLINESS, removing all corruption from our lives and cause us to actually become a partaker (someone who lives in) the DIVINE NATURE. That means we can actually live JUST LIKE JESUS DID! This is confirmed by I John 2:5-6. So how many of us believe this to be possible for us today?
I guarantee that NO ONE who holds to any kind of Calvinistic theology does. Just this should tell us that type of theology does NOT come from God. But Peter is going to explain to us HOW we are to ENTER INTO this QUALITY of LIFE! It is through the promises of God that we DO become sharers of His Very Nature.
But I must reiterate that this does NOT happen just because we become true Christians. There is something that must be done and Peter is about to address it as well as speak to those who deny the possibility of this happening during our lives on this earth we currently live on. We can live our lives JUST LIKE JESUS, but it will NEVER come about by our striving or trying to make our lives better nor even by attempting to OBEY THE COMMANDS OF GOD! NONE of the promises of God will even manifest in our lives by our trying to be better, walk in obedience, or clean up our lives by confessing and repenting from sin. (Please note, I am NOT saying we should not confess and repent, but that is NOT what will keep us from living a sinful lifestyle)
So where does Peter tell us to start? Let me be the first to say that Peter is writing to those who are truly saved. Being saved is a SUPERNATURAL MIRACLE OF GOD and if His power has not come into the life of a person and actually changed something in them, as well as giving this person the Holy Spirit, it does not matter how many times they pray, they are NOT SAVED! The miracle of REGENERATION MUST have occurred in the life of the person.
This means they have chosen to submit their lives to God honestly and by faith have truly believed and received the Holy Spirit who is the ONE Who baptizes us into the Body of Christ. NOTICE; this is only the beginning and there is much more that must occur for the person to Enter the Kingdom of God, but they have properly entered the Gate by Faith.
From this point on, they may be carnal, they may not have a clue what it really means to be a Christian, but they have opened their spirit to the Holy Spirit and are now allowing Him to begin changing and directing their lives. Peter is addressing these people, not those that only have religion or an exercise in mental gymnastics where they agree with the scriptures but have not had a change of heart where they are beginning to choose to lay down their will to God as mankind was created to do.
Peter tells these Christian brothers and sister to begin to do something, but NOT as most of the modern Church would consider performing a task or following directions for a specific outcome. We cannot DO! However, we must begin using the faith we have been given to truly have faith for, believe in, trust in and RELY ON the Lord to accomplish what HE has promised. Look at what Peter says>>>>
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
The beginning point is to be DILIGENT to use the faith we have been given and begin to REALLY TRUST, RELY ON, and BELIEVE that God will not only be with us, but actually CHANGE US and ACCOMPLISH HIS PROMISES inside our hearts. Do you see what Peter says? He tells us to exercise our FAITH to develop many things, beginning with virtue. We cannot be virtuous. We must TRUST GOD to make us virtuous and give in to and submit our lives to what HE shows us HE desires us to be like. It all comes by faith. It does NOT come by practice, by striving, by trying to be good, by obedience to what we think the Bible says, NONE of this will ever change us. The ONLY WAY we will ever be changed on the inside so that we truly begin to Look JUST LIKE JESUS is by having FAITH that what HE has promised, HE will also accomplish in our lives! THIS is the Faith of Abraham and it is the only way we will ever be found in Christ as God has determined.
Before we go any further, we must understand something that is laid out in Ian Thomas’ book, “The Mystery of Godliness”.
“Man was made to love God back, to reciprocate God’s love to man. And Adam in his innocency, knowing that he had been created to please God and to bear His image, and knowing that he could only do so by maintaining an attitude of total dependence upon Him, expressed his love to God by total dependence on God! This was a faith-love relationship, which could not help but express itself in total obedience, for obedience is the only logical consequence of faith.
“If you give me your advice and I depend on it, then I do as you say! This is the characteristic of faith, as the word is used in the Bible; it involves an attitude toward God which always does what He says, and if you always do what He says, the world will see Him behaving through you—and that is godliness.
“The picture then that we have of the first man Adam before the image was marred, is one whose love for God was demonstrated by his dependence on God, resulting in obedience to God, and expressing the life of God! Adam’s spirit, soul, and body were wholly filled and flooded by God Himself.
“When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained and established; What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the onf [earthborn] man, that You care for him? Yet You have made him but a little lower than God and heavenly being, and You have crowned him with glory an dhonor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all thinkgs under his feet. (Psalm 8: 3-6 Amplified Old Testament)
“Made by God to have dominion over all the works of His hands, man’s authority was vested in him only by virtue of this “faith-love” relationship to God which would keep him always conformed to the divine will, in “purpose, thought, and action,” he was to be the visible means of communication between an invisible God and His visible creation, whose sovereignty “over all the works of His hands” would be subject only to the sovereignty of God Himself.” {From “The Mystery of Godliness” by Ian Thomas, Chapter VI The First Man-Adam}
This briefly explains the relationship that Adam had with God prior to the Fall. Adam was created to be the expression of the will of God on the earth and to be utterly and totally dependent on God for absolutely everything. When Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, this “faith-love” relationship ceased to be and Adam, who was created as a living being, DIED spiritually.
As Ian Thomas repeatedly states in his book, “it takes God to be a man”. In other words, without this absolute dependence on God, there is no true life in any person. It matters NOT what they say they believe, what is in their heads, what tenets of faith they hold, it does not even matter how closely this person keeps the commandments of God, they are dead!
Until we return to this absolute relationship of faith-love, there is no life, no eternal, divine nature that reproduces the acts of God on this earth. It doesn’t matter if the person has studied and can quote the whole Bible. It doesn’t matter what they do, what they say, how they say it, or anything else. A rock is not alive no matter how pretty you make it. Neither is a human alive with the life of God Eternal unless the life of God directs everything about this person; and that means there is NOTHING that does not come from God in the person.
It is the Life of God in man that actually makes man any different from the rest of creation. Unregenerated man is almost exactly the same as any other animal. The only difference being is that man can receive the Life of God and become a LIVING SOUL! Yes, we have heard of this before in Genesis when God created man. And it is this LIFE that Adam and Eve lost when they chose independence from God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they did this, they DIED spiritually.
It is not in man to be what God created him to be unless and until the very life of God that is found in Christ Jesus, not only is received once more in his spirit, but actually rules, lead, guides, directs, chooses, and discerns what is right and wrong, what is good and evil. Only when we, as the people of God, give up our rights to direct and decide for ourselves ANYTHING, depending on God for ALL things, are we BEGINNING to walk as Jesus walked. And it is this that Peter is directing us to.
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
I copy this once more to point us to how all of this is to be made real in our lives. We exercise our faith TO DEVELOP Virtue. This is NOT trying to be virtuous. Rather, by faith we submit our lives to God, recognizing that we can do nothing unless HE does it. It must be HIS power, His accomplishing, not ours. For if it comes from our efforts, then we DESERVE eternal life. It is no longer a gift of faith but it is instead payment for our work.
That is totally contradictory to the teaching of the Bible. Yet even those who consistently spout the traditional saying of “we are saved by faith not by works” just as consistently preach works as part of the normal Christian lifestyle. They of course, do not call them works, but if we look at what they actually say, that is what they are talking about. They say things like you must go to Church, you must read your Bible, you must pray, you must tithe, etc. The real problem is not so much that they speak of doing things, but they ignore having the inside purified by the Lord, or they say it is impossible, thereby ignoring the commandments of God with their own traditions. Does that sound familiar?
So if we are to believe Peter, BY FAITH we are to develop virtue by diligently exercising that faith. Then as we allow virtue to develop and become a reality in our lives, NOT by striving, but by faith, yielding to the Lord in all the areas He shows us that must be dealt with. It is by faith, NOT by LEARNING HOW TO BE BETTER! We will NEVER get better. As Ian Thomas taught in “The Mystery of Godliness”, God created mankind to be ruled and reigned by God Himself. Man cannot produce godliness himself. It takes the life of God flowing through man in order to be godly.
It is quite true that man has controlled his behavior in many ways. Various religious orders and religions has proven this many times over. The world can look at various practitioners of Buddhism, Shintoism, even things as common in the US as Mormonism and marvel at how “HOLY” these people are. But what is seen is only the outside, the behavior of the individual. The heart is not seen and it is here that mankind ALWAYS falls down; Man cannot change his nature just as a dog cannot become a cat nor a fish become a bird.
However, in Christ, our natures CAN BE CHANGED FOR US BY FAITH!
Therefore, by faith, as we submit to the Lord and allow Him to change us, virtue is put on. As we begin BY FAITH to walk in Virtue, we will also in exercising this faith, receive knowledge; once more, by FAITH. It does NOT come from STUDY! We receive and yield to His knowledge as we have learned to receive and yield to His virtue. It is RECEIVED by Faith through Revelation by the Holy Spirit. But this does not mean we do not read the Bible nor study it. We study to confirm what HE has already revealed to us, not study to find or figure out what the Bible means.
6And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),
7And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
Once more, as the knowledge FROM the Lord is Received by Faith, we learn to submit and yield to it so that it grows and we actually learn more and more about the Lord as HE is making it a part of our lives. We do not study and learn the Bible and attempt to incorporate it into our lives. THAT is the way of the world.
We seek the Lord, submit to Him, allow Him to speak to us by the Holy Spirit, yield to what HE teaches us, confirm that revelation in the scriptures, and ask Him to manifest His life within our hearts.
This knowledge we gain is NOT earthly it is spiritual. It often goes against everything even the Church world says and teaches about God and the Bible.
Peter tells us that as we exercise the knowledge that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, we are to have revelation of self-control. This is once more received by FAITH and exercised by Faith. This self-control is NOT just controlling ourselves. No, it is submitting our lives to the Lord in such a manner that we wait for Him to manifest His nature within our hearts.
WE DO NOT INDEPENDENTLY LEARN HOW TO CONTROL OUR FLESHLY DESIRES. As Jesus did not take the short-cut satan offered Him in the Testing in the Wilderness, so we do not give in to satan when he tempts us to take the short-cut to reach the calling God has placed upon our lives. This is TRUE self-control.
Each of these attributes is received only by faith. We do not use man’s techniques, ideas, reasonings, understandings, teachings, talents, or anything else that comes from man. That is independence and since it does not have its origin with God, it is actually idolatry, making our ideas, even ourselves equal with God in our sight.
So as we learn to truly yield to the Lord in self-control and we begin to exercise it, He also grants us the grace of patience BY FAITH! We do not learn to be patient. God makes us patient by revelation of the Holy Spirit by Faith. And as we yield to this patience He places in our lives exercised by faith, He begins to reveal godliness to us by faith.
Godliness is not our striving to be good or godly. That is a work of the flesh and thereby is a filthy rag (I hope we all remember what a filthy rag is). Godliness is the very nature of Christ Jesus being manifested in and through our lives. It produces fruit which DOES show up in our behavior but attempting to comply with these rules, trying to make ourselves godly by behaving in the same manner is once more foul and dirty in the sight of God.
As godliness becomes a reality in our lives through faith, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal brotherly kindness to our spirits and minds. This we once again receive by faith and yield to this manifestation of the Lord in our lives. We submit ourselves once more by faith and He begins to show His brotherly kindness in all that we do.
Then as we exercise this brotherly kindness, the True Love of God begins to be revealed to us by faith. We submit and yield to this TRUTH, this LOVE which is Christ Jesus Himself. We do not LEARN to Love, nor do we learn what actions constitute love. NO! That is again works of the flesh and foul in God’s sight. No, we yield to Him, letting go of all the things that are NOT LOVE that Love itself may truly become a part of our lives. We do not learn it. We do not grit our teeth and bear it so that we can outwardly love the unlovable. NO! HE manifests HIMSELF in and through our lives and we naturally walk in LOVE, but only by Faith.
Only as we receive the revelation of all of these attributes from the Holy Spirit by FAITH ALONE and allow them to remove everything that is not of these revelations, this FRUIT that comes from the Holy Spirit do we begin to actually walk JUST LIKE JESUS! And it is to this that we are directed by Peter. But Peter also warns us. He tells us THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE. If it is not, if we do not live in this manner from our hearts, on the inside, Peter tells it like it is.
8For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
9For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.
We are that as we seek the Lord by Faith and allow the Holy Spirit to truly teach us by revelation knowledge, receiving each of these attributes (and more) by faith and by the exercise of ever greater faith that He gives to us, we will not be idle and we will bear much fruit. Remember the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5? And Peter tells us that as we bear this fruit, we will gain personal knowledge of Jesus Christ Himself in our lives.
But the warning is just as foreboding as the promise is a blessing. Whoever lacks these qualities is blind! They are spiritually shortsighted and only see what is right in front of them. Not only this, but they have become oblivious, they have actually FORGOTTEN that they were cleansed from their old sins. And in reality, they fall right back into those very same sins! They have actually BLINDED THEMSELVES!
But Peter is not finished. He then goes on to explain the result of following his directions. He tells us what WILL HAPPEN IN OUR LIVES ON THIS EARTH NOW!
10Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Can we believe and accept what Peter is telling us as true? IF we will do as he has said above, which makes our calling and election solid and strengthened, THEN WE WILL NEVER STUMBLE OR FALL! Is that what our church teaches? Is that what our preacher preaches? How many times have we heard this from anyone who stands behind the pulpit? Have we ever heard this coming from any kind of preacher telling us that we can actually live and walk in this manner?
How many of our currently held doctrines CONTRADICT what this passage says? Do we believe the old saying that we sin every day or do we believe the Bible? I am not here to cut anyone down. But when I began my walk with the Lord I was in a particular mainline denomination. In most meetings they have you will hear that we will always sin or that we will sin every day. Yet Peter clearly states that if we will exercise our faith as he has taught, we will NEVER stumble or fall; the very terms used by this denomination for what happens when temptation overtakes us.
I submit that this same denomination speaks about living the abundant life yet if we are constantly being overcome by sin, how can that be an abundant life in Christ Jesus? In fact, we are told that we should be going on from glory to glory always walking in triumph, but yet, they live a defeated life because they say we MUST SIN and SIN is the ruling force of their lives. This same teaching goes across most of modern Christianity in various ways. The words may be different, they may describe the problem using other means, but the reality is, they do not live the abundant life provided by Christ Jesus nor do they live in such a manner that the divine nature is manifested in and through their lives!
Please forgive me for speaking the truth, but the Bible tells us this would happen during the end times.
II Tim 3: 5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].
Please read that again. They deny and reject and are STRANGERS to the Power of (true religion) and their CONDUCT belies the genuineness of their profession.
One must ask if they are even saved. It is not my place to say only God knows. But I can ask this>>> How many professing “christians” do these verses in Second Timothy describe in this day; especially when we include what Peter has taught us?
Perhaps it would be far easier to answer the question, How many Christians today walk in II Peter 1, never stumbling or falling? And Paul tells us we are to avoid or turn away from EVERYONE who does not live like Peter has described!
OUCH!
How many people do you know who explain away their lack of obedience, their falling into sin, their failures and then they say in some way that God overlooks all of these faults? Please note: I am not claiming anything for myself. All I am doing is attempting to convey the things the Lord has taught me. I am no better than anyone else!
What is the final result of a person who truly does as Peter has described?
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This person, any person, will be brought into the UNDIVIDED KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST. That means there will not be a divided heart that pulls back to the world but rather is always seeking and willing to do the Will of God. Please note: This person is NOT PERFECT in the sense of never having to be corrected by the Lord; as perfect in all ways as God is perfect. No.
Our hearts will be perfect. We will walk and live in PERFECT LOVE! Everything about us will always desire to do the Will of God. But we will NOT have perfect light; we will not KNOW everything there is to know; we will still need to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit in all things at all times. We can NEVER be independent of God, for that is the essence of sin, independence from God and His ways.
But as we go along walking in the very steps of Jesus Christ living in the same way as HE lived, never doing or saying anything that the Lord does not tell us to say or do, He will show us light in other areas of our lives. Whenever He does, we IMMEDIATELY submit and yield to that knowledge, to that light. We will always have pure, unbroken fellowship with the Lord. We will never have a desire to do anything other than the perfect will of God. If ever He shows us that we lack, we will immediately allow Him to change BY FAITH (once more) so that our lives will continue on in Him.
This kind of life has been described by many people in many ways. It has been called the Normal Christians Life, Perfect Love, Christian Perfection, and many others as well. A number of years ago the Lord blessed me with a vision into the Heavenly Holy of Holies. I saw the Heavenly Ark of the Covenant where Jesus poured out His blood; there were angelic beings all around, but none of them were in focus. Above everything or perhaps permeating everything would be a better way to describe it, was the Shekinah Glory of the Lord. I cannot say I saw His Full glory, but I was made to know 2 things about what I saw.
1. Sin is impossible for the person who dwells there.
2. We can live there NOW but only by invitation. He invites whoever is willing to lay down their lives JUST LIKE JESUS did.
We must remember that God is NOT a respecter of persons. Whoever will do as HE asks will receive what He promises. He does not demand us to go there. He just offers it to whosoever will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him in the same steps He took.
We do not enter by keeping Laws. We do not enter by keeping the 10 Commandments. We only Enter by the obedience of FAITH, Humility, Submission, and Yieldedness. We must always retain the willingness to be wrong, to be corrected by the Lord.
I submit that Peter does not speak of following any Laws or rituals or anything else. He speaks, as does Paul, about following the Holy Spirit who is God. We are to obey HIM and whatever HE tells us; THESE are His commands. These are the Commands that we are to obey, not some list written in a book we call the Bible.
We obey HIM, not a list. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. If we are comforming to a list of rules, that is NOT following Him; that is NOT FAITH. That is compliance. Even so, by our striving, we can never obey with our hearts as the Bible tells us we are to do, let alone with PURE hearts; for we cannot purify our own hearts.
There is much more that could be said, but at this time, the Lord is telling me this is enough at present. Perhaps one of you readers will ask a question, even challenge something that is written here. Please do. I am NOT infallible and I claim nothing other than I am relating to you all what HE has placed in my heart. Perhaps I am not doing it as He would have me do so. Perhaps some of my words may have offended you. Forgive my poor obedience to the Revelation He has given to me. Instead, I ask you to overlook those areas where you feel you have been slighted personally.
I then ask you to be willing to lay aside everything you think is correct and ask the Lord Himself what HE says. Notice this>>>> Do not rely on what you think but what Jesus actually says to you. Trust HIM, not yourselves. I remind us all once more, how many times have we already been wrong? Could not we be wrong once more?
Then here is the real meat of this writing. How many times have we confessed and repented only to confess and repent again and again? How many times have we determined to follow the Lord only to fall down once more? How many times have we FAILED to do what we read in the Bible we are to do, to live?
Then, how many of us have actually done what PETER has told us to do? Are we willing to give this a try to see if this doctrine be true? Will it hurt us? (only our egos) How many of us have heard the definition of insanity as doing the same things over and over expecting Different results?
But how many of us continually do these same things over and over and hope that FINALLY we will walk as the Bible tells us we are to walk, Only to find ourselves back where we started or even worse off than when we began?
What God has shown me is another way, and in reality it is the ONLY WAY! It is PURELY by Faith. It does not demand we DO THINGS, ACTIONS! NO, it demands we lay down our lives in such a manner as we have never done before. It demands that we stop trying to perform actions or comply with commands that our experience shows us we have never been able to perform before; IF we are honest with ourselves.
How many of us have tried this way the Peter says results in our NEVER STUMBLING OR FALLING again? Have we REALLY tried it or have we only kidded ourselves?
I promise you, if we REALLY do as Peter explains we WILL live in the Holy of Holies; we will never stumble or fall. I know this is a challenge to many. But we have to STOP doing what we have always done before which has always resulted in failure. Or we can blow this off. You can forget about this as the ramblings of a heretic (as some have called me); as the fantasy of a deluded and deceived man who knows nothing about the Love of God (as others have claimed about me)
I ask how many of them have been willing to be misunderstood and even rejected just so they can speak God’s truth; because they REALLY DO CARE what happens to you? You see, the TRUTH only comes from those who TRULY CARE!
Does what these other people say agree with all the scriptures? Do they agree with what Peter said? Or do they look like the people Paul and Peter both said to stay away from? God is all about the TRUTH! The Holy Spirit is called, His NAME IS THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH! He always agrees with the WHOLE BIBLE. Nothing I have said contradicts the scriptures. Oh, it may contradict what others say about the Bible, but it does NOT contradict the Bible at all.
I was told that I would show the way to those who were willing to lose themselves in Christ. Are you? Are you willing to really lose yourself in Christ Jesus so that YOU stop living for yourself and ONLY live for what HE decides is right for you? Are you really willing to abandon yourself to the Lord that much? Are you willing to put Him to the test to see if what HE promised He is able to perform, just like Abraham did? Do you trust HIM that much or not?
If we have humble hearts, if we have truly allowed ourselves to be humbled by the Lord, then we must admit that we have never gone this way before. We must also admit that our lives do not look like the promises of the Lord contained in the scriptures. That is of course, if we are actually HONEST with ourselves and the Lord.
We may have tried many ways prior to this time. I guarantee you they did not work. How do I know this, because I have tried most of them myself. I admit I have NOT arrived. I do not YET have a perfect heart. BUT, I have gone far enough along this road to know this is the narrow path. I KNOW this is the ONLY WAY. It is the TRUTH and the LIFE. And without striving to be better; without attempting to comply with rules, laws, commands or even the commandments, my life, my HEART, has been more conformed to the VERY IMAGE OF CHRIST JESUS than ever before in my life. I could tell you that my family agrees with what I just said, but some of you will not believe me no matter what I say. I am grieved in my heart for all of you who are like this. There is no way I can explain to you the LOVE I have for everyone.
But the Lord’s LOVE does not compromise in the least. YES, it loves and cares for others greatly. But it will never, ever allow compromise; just like Jesus did not run after the rich, young ruler when he realized he had to give up everything in order to Follow Jesus, so too will Jesus not allow us to retain our own way of doing things, thinking, and especially NOT our independence.
I wish I could show you how I feel, how much I truly care, how I even love those I do not know, but words fail to convey this understanding. All I can say is this>>>> If you have found your life lacking ON THE INSIDE so that YOU KNOW your heart is NOT like Jesus’ own heart are you willing to take a chance NOT on me, but on the Lord Himself? How many of you have tried in vain so many different ways and still you are seeking for answers and relief to your burning heart’s desire?
I tell you, I promise you, if you will do as PETER said, you will find what you have been seeking, but ONLY as you believe He able to do what HE promised He would do!
God bless you all!
a bondslave in Christ Jesus, Dirk
Today there are a huge number of HOW TO and SELF-HELP books. In general, what they all have in common is they explain to the reader how to go from point A to point B following the steps the author believes is “THE WAY”. This writing is nothing like that.
In fact, I must tell you at the onset, that if you are looking for a step-by-step method of being cleansed on the inside and then being filled with God, you will NOT find His Absolute Truth in any book or article that gives you a step-by-step method. There is NO METHOD.
The reason being if there were a method then WE would be in control. We would determine our own course of action and would be independent of God. We would be following a method NOT THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Only those who are led by the Holy Spirit in all things are the TRUE Children of God. This means we cannot decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, we must go to God and ask Him. Only God knows the beginning from the ending. HE is the One who knows the ultimate outcome of every thought and action. Therefore, only GOD knows what is truly right and wrong!
If we are honest with ourselves and with God, we must admit that when we read the 10 Commandments, we only think about the actions themselves. Yet Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that God looks on the heart and anyone who violates His “Commands” in their heart HAS ALREADY SINNED! The action may NEVER come into being, but the sin has been committed because it was received into the heart.
The ONLY WAY to OBEY the Commandments of God is to CLEANSE THE HEART of all sin!
If that has not been done, then no matter how much we attempt to comply with what WE THINK God has commanded us, we will still disobey Him in our heart. No amount of outward obedience will ever change the inside. The inside MUST be cleansed. If it is, then everything that cleansed person does will be clean and pure because that heart will only produce the same kind of nature that it is filled with; the Fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Now it would be nice if this would just happen to all of us when we are saved. Unfortunately, it does not. All we have to do is go to almost any church in the world to see this. If this purity of heart came about just because a person got saved and lived, then every church congregation would have those who have been saved for 20, 30 or even more years and they would be wonderful saints having no anxiety, fears, evil thoughts or desires, when we saw them we would be seeing Jesus Christ returned in the flesh, so to speak.
But going to all of these many churches, we would NOT find this to be the case. Instead, we would find many of the older people stuck in their ways, grumpy and soured like old wine left too long in the wineskin; it has become vinegar. There is no freshness, no childlike enjoyment of the Lord. There would not be the sweetness of Christ but exactly the opposite. In fact, these older believers would admit IF THEY WERE HONEST that they had little of the Fire of the Lord anymore and that they were just going through the motions.
Now please, I do speak in generalities. There will always be exceptions. There will be some real saints out there who truly have allowed Jesus to live His life in them. But that is just it; they are the EXCEPTION rather than the rule. And that is the point. If this blessed life of pure devotion to the Lord that can be seen in everything these saints think, say and do, then there would be many of them all over the world. But they are not there. In fact, in many places, there are none at all.
What does that mean? It means that either there are not really that many who are saved in the first place (this is true also) or we have a part in all of this to bring it to pass in our own lives! AND THAT is exactly what this article is going to speak about; what is our part that will bring about this kind of life Jesus speaks of in John 17 and Paul speaks about in Ephesians 1, 3 & 4 and especially in Romans 6 & 8? For if we are not truly living in that kind of experiential reality we have missed to abundant life promised to us in Christ Jesus.
II Peter 1: 3For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).4By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
6And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),
7And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
8For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
9For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.
10Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This passage from II Peter is the “HOW TO LIVE LIKE A CHRISTIAN” in its simplest form. Peter explains to us what we must “do” in order to walk as we are supposed to walk on this earth. In order to comprehend all of this, we need to break it down into more digestible portions so we do not choke on deep spirituality of these words.
Let us start at the beginning and slowly go through these words, not allowing ourselves to miss our responsibility by skimming through too quickly or overlooking the TRUTH presented by Peter.
3For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).4By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.
Do we even believe these words to be true? God has given us EVERYTHING we need to live lives of GODLINESS, removing all corruption from our lives and cause us to actually become a partaker (someone who lives in) the DIVINE NATURE. That means we can actually live JUST LIKE JESUS DID! This is confirmed by I John 2:5-6. So how many of us believe this to be possible for us today?
I guarantee that NO ONE who holds to any kind of Calvinistic theology does. Just this should tell us that type of theology does NOT come from God. But Peter is going to explain to us HOW we are to ENTER INTO this QUALITY of LIFE! It is through the promises of God that we DO become sharers of His Very Nature.
But I must reiterate that this does NOT happen just because we become true Christians. There is something that must be done and Peter is about to address it as well as speak to those who deny the possibility of this happening during our lives on this earth we currently live on. We can live our lives JUST LIKE JESUS, but it will NEVER come about by our striving or trying to make our lives better nor even by attempting to OBEY THE COMMANDS OF GOD! NONE of the promises of God will even manifest in our lives by our trying to be better, walk in obedience, or clean up our lives by confessing and repenting from sin. (Please note, I am NOT saying we should not confess and repent, but that is NOT what will keep us from living a sinful lifestyle)
So where does Peter tell us to start? Let me be the first to say that Peter is writing to those who are truly saved. Being saved is a SUPERNATURAL MIRACLE OF GOD and if His power has not come into the life of a person and actually changed something in them, as well as giving this person the Holy Spirit, it does not matter how many times they pray, they are NOT SAVED! The miracle of REGENERATION MUST have occurred in the life of the person.
This means they have chosen to submit their lives to God honestly and by faith have truly believed and received the Holy Spirit who is the ONE Who baptizes us into the Body of Christ. NOTICE; this is only the beginning and there is much more that must occur for the person to Enter the Kingdom of God, but they have properly entered the Gate by Faith.
From this point on, they may be carnal, they may not have a clue what it really means to be a Christian, but they have opened their spirit to the Holy Spirit and are now allowing Him to begin changing and directing their lives. Peter is addressing these people, not those that only have religion or an exercise in mental gymnastics where they agree with the scriptures but have not had a change of heart where they are beginning to choose to lay down their will to God as mankind was created to do.
Peter tells these Christian brothers and sister to begin to do something, but NOT as most of the modern Church would consider performing a task or following directions for a specific outcome. We cannot DO! However, we must begin using the faith we have been given to truly have faith for, believe in, trust in and RELY ON the Lord to accomplish what HE has promised. Look at what Peter says>>>>
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
The beginning point is to be DILIGENT to use the faith we have been given and begin to REALLY TRUST, RELY ON, and BELIEVE that God will not only be with us, but actually CHANGE US and ACCOMPLISH HIS PROMISES inside our hearts. Do you see what Peter says? He tells us to exercise our FAITH to develop many things, beginning with virtue. We cannot be virtuous. We must TRUST GOD to make us virtuous and give in to and submit our lives to what HE shows us HE desires us to be like. It all comes by faith. It does NOT come by practice, by striving, by trying to be good, by obedience to what we think the Bible says, NONE of this will ever change us. The ONLY WAY we will ever be changed on the inside so that we truly begin to Look JUST LIKE JESUS is by having FAITH that what HE has promised, HE will also accomplish in our lives! THIS is the Faith of Abraham and it is the only way we will ever be found in Christ as God has determined.
Before we go any further, we must understand something that is laid out in Ian Thomas’ book, “The Mystery of Godliness”.
“Man was made to love God back, to reciprocate God’s love to man. And Adam in his innocency, knowing that he had been created to please God and to bear His image, and knowing that he could only do so by maintaining an attitude of total dependence upon Him, expressed his love to God by total dependence on God! This was a faith-love relationship, which could not help but express itself in total obedience, for obedience is the only logical consequence of faith.
“If you give me your advice and I depend on it, then I do as you say! This is the characteristic of faith, as the word is used in the Bible; it involves an attitude toward God which always does what He says, and if you always do what He says, the world will see Him behaving through you—and that is godliness.
“The picture then that we have of the first man Adam before the image was marred, is one whose love for God was demonstrated by his dependence on God, resulting in obedience to God, and expressing the life of God! Adam’s spirit, soul, and body were wholly filled and flooded by God Himself.
“When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained and established; What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the onf [earthborn] man, that You care for him? Yet You have made him but a little lower than God and heavenly being, and You have crowned him with glory an dhonor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all thinkgs under his feet. (Psalm 8: 3-6 Amplified Old Testament)
“Made by God to have dominion over all the works of His hands, man’s authority was vested in him only by virtue of this “faith-love” relationship to God which would keep him always conformed to the divine will, in “purpose, thought, and action,” he was to be the visible means of communication between an invisible God and His visible creation, whose sovereignty “over all the works of His hands” would be subject only to the sovereignty of God Himself.” {From “The Mystery of Godliness” by Ian Thomas, Chapter VI The First Man-Adam}
This briefly explains the relationship that Adam had with God prior to the Fall. Adam was created to be the expression of the will of God on the earth and to be utterly and totally dependent on God for absolutely everything. When Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, this “faith-love” relationship ceased to be and Adam, who was created as a living being, DIED spiritually.
As Ian Thomas repeatedly states in his book, “it takes God to be a man”. In other words, without this absolute dependence on God, there is no true life in any person. It matters NOT what they say they believe, what is in their heads, what tenets of faith they hold, it does not even matter how closely this person keeps the commandments of God, they are dead!
Until we return to this absolute relationship of faith-love, there is no life, no eternal, divine nature that reproduces the acts of God on this earth. It doesn’t matter if the person has studied and can quote the whole Bible. It doesn’t matter what they do, what they say, how they say it, or anything else. A rock is not alive no matter how pretty you make it. Neither is a human alive with the life of God Eternal unless the life of God directs everything about this person; and that means there is NOTHING that does not come from God in the person.
It is the Life of God in man that actually makes man any different from the rest of creation. Unregenerated man is almost exactly the same as any other animal. The only difference being is that man can receive the Life of God and become a LIVING SOUL! Yes, we have heard of this before in Genesis when God created man. And it is this LIFE that Adam and Eve lost when they chose independence from God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they did this, they DIED spiritually.
It is not in man to be what God created him to be unless and until the very life of God that is found in Christ Jesus, not only is received once more in his spirit, but actually rules, lead, guides, directs, chooses, and discerns what is right and wrong, what is good and evil. Only when we, as the people of God, give up our rights to direct and decide for ourselves ANYTHING, depending on God for ALL things, are we BEGINNING to walk as Jesus walked. And it is this that Peter is directing us to.
5For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
I copy this once more to point us to how all of this is to be made real in our lives. We exercise our faith TO DEVELOP Virtue. This is NOT trying to be virtuous. Rather, by faith we submit our lives to God, recognizing that we can do nothing unless HE does it. It must be HIS power, His accomplishing, not ours. For if it comes from our efforts, then we DESERVE eternal life. It is no longer a gift of faith but it is instead payment for our work.
That is totally contradictory to the teaching of the Bible. Yet even those who consistently spout the traditional saying of “we are saved by faith not by works” just as consistently preach works as part of the normal Christian lifestyle. They of course, do not call them works, but if we look at what they actually say, that is what they are talking about. They say things like you must go to Church, you must read your Bible, you must pray, you must tithe, etc. The real problem is not so much that they speak of doing things, but they ignore having the inside purified by the Lord, or they say it is impossible, thereby ignoring the commandments of God with their own traditions. Does that sound familiar?
So if we are to believe Peter, BY FAITH we are to develop virtue by diligently exercising that faith. Then as we allow virtue to develop and become a reality in our lives, NOT by striving, but by faith, yielding to the Lord in all the areas He shows us that must be dealt with. It is by faith, NOT by LEARNING HOW TO BE BETTER! We will NEVER get better. As Ian Thomas taught in “The Mystery of Godliness”, God created mankind to be ruled and reigned by God Himself. Man cannot produce godliness himself. It takes the life of God flowing through man in order to be godly.
It is quite true that man has controlled his behavior in many ways. Various religious orders and religions has proven this many times over. The world can look at various practitioners of Buddhism, Shintoism, even things as common in the US as Mormonism and marvel at how “HOLY” these people are. But what is seen is only the outside, the behavior of the individual. The heart is not seen and it is here that mankind ALWAYS falls down; Man cannot change his nature just as a dog cannot become a cat nor a fish become a bird.
However, in Christ, our natures CAN BE CHANGED FOR US BY FAITH!
Therefore, by faith, as we submit to the Lord and allow Him to change us, virtue is put on. As we begin BY FAITH to walk in Virtue, we will also in exercising this faith, receive knowledge; once more, by FAITH. It does NOT come from STUDY! We receive and yield to His knowledge as we have learned to receive and yield to His virtue. It is RECEIVED by Faith through Revelation by the Holy Spirit. But this does not mean we do not read the Bible nor study it. We study to confirm what HE has already revealed to us, not study to find or figure out what the Bible means.
6And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),
7And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
Once more, as the knowledge FROM the Lord is Received by Faith, we learn to submit and yield to it so that it grows and we actually learn more and more about the Lord as HE is making it a part of our lives. We do not study and learn the Bible and attempt to incorporate it into our lives. THAT is the way of the world.
We seek the Lord, submit to Him, allow Him to speak to us by the Holy Spirit, yield to what HE teaches us, confirm that revelation in the scriptures, and ask Him to manifest His life within our hearts.
This knowledge we gain is NOT earthly it is spiritual. It often goes against everything even the Church world says and teaches about God and the Bible.
Peter tells us that as we exercise the knowledge that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, we are to have revelation of self-control. This is once more received by FAITH and exercised by Faith. This self-control is NOT just controlling ourselves. No, it is submitting our lives to the Lord in such a manner that we wait for Him to manifest His nature within our hearts.
WE DO NOT INDEPENDENTLY LEARN HOW TO CONTROL OUR FLESHLY DESIRES. As Jesus did not take the short-cut satan offered Him in the Testing in the Wilderness, so we do not give in to satan when he tempts us to take the short-cut to reach the calling God has placed upon our lives. This is TRUE self-control.
Each of these attributes is received only by faith. We do not use man’s techniques, ideas, reasonings, understandings, teachings, talents, or anything else that comes from man. That is independence and since it does not have its origin with God, it is actually idolatry, making our ideas, even ourselves equal with God in our sight.
So as we learn to truly yield to the Lord in self-control and we begin to exercise it, He also grants us the grace of patience BY FAITH! We do not learn to be patient. God makes us patient by revelation of the Holy Spirit by Faith. And as we yield to this patience He places in our lives exercised by faith, He begins to reveal godliness to us by faith.
Godliness is not our striving to be good or godly. That is a work of the flesh and thereby is a filthy rag (I hope we all remember what a filthy rag is). Godliness is the very nature of Christ Jesus being manifested in and through our lives. It produces fruit which DOES show up in our behavior but attempting to comply with these rules, trying to make ourselves godly by behaving in the same manner is once more foul and dirty in the sight of God.
As godliness becomes a reality in our lives through faith, the Holy Spirit begins to reveal brotherly kindness to our spirits and minds. This we once again receive by faith and yield to this manifestation of the Lord in our lives. We submit ourselves once more by faith and He begins to show His brotherly kindness in all that we do.
Then as we exercise this brotherly kindness, the True Love of God begins to be revealed to us by faith. We submit and yield to this TRUTH, this LOVE which is Christ Jesus Himself. We do not LEARN to Love, nor do we learn what actions constitute love. NO! That is again works of the flesh and foul in God’s sight. No, we yield to Him, letting go of all the things that are NOT LOVE that Love itself may truly become a part of our lives. We do not learn it. We do not grit our teeth and bear it so that we can outwardly love the unlovable. NO! HE manifests HIMSELF in and through our lives and we naturally walk in LOVE, but only by Faith.
Only as we receive the revelation of all of these attributes from the Holy Spirit by FAITH ALONE and allow them to remove everything that is not of these revelations, this FRUIT that comes from the Holy Spirit do we begin to actually walk JUST LIKE JESUS! And it is to this that we are directed by Peter. But Peter also warns us. He tells us THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE. If it is not, if we do not live in this manner from our hearts, on the inside, Peter tells it like it is.
8For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
9For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.
We are that as we seek the Lord by Faith and allow the Holy Spirit to truly teach us by revelation knowledge, receiving each of these attributes (and more) by faith and by the exercise of ever greater faith that He gives to us, we will not be idle and we will bear much fruit. Remember the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5? And Peter tells us that as we bear this fruit, we will gain personal knowledge of Jesus Christ Himself in our lives.
But the warning is just as foreboding as the promise is a blessing. Whoever lacks these qualities is blind! They are spiritually shortsighted and only see what is right in front of them. Not only this, but they have become oblivious, they have actually FORGOTTEN that they were cleansed from their old sins. And in reality, they fall right back into those very same sins! They have actually BLINDED THEMSELVES!
But Peter is not finished. He then goes on to explain the result of following his directions. He tells us what WILL HAPPEN IN OUR LIVES ON THIS EARTH NOW!
10Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and eager to make sure (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) your calling and election; for if you do this, you will never stumble or fall.
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Can we believe and accept what Peter is telling us as true? IF we will do as he has said above, which makes our calling and election solid and strengthened, THEN WE WILL NEVER STUMBLE OR FALL! Is that what our church teaches? Is that what our preacher preaches? How many times have we heard this from anyone who stands behind the pulpit? Have we ever heard this coming from any kind of preacher telling us that we can actually live and walk in this manner?
How many of our currently held doctrines CONTRADICT what this passage says? Do we believe the old saying that we sin every day or do we believe the Bible? I am not here to cut anyone down. But when I began my walk with the Lord I was in a particular mainline denomination. In most meetings they have you will hear that we will always sin or that we will sin every day. Yet Peter clearly states that if we will exercise our faith as he has taught, we will NEVER stumble or fall; the very terms used by this denomination for what happens when temptation overtakes us.
I submit that this same denomination speaks about living the abundant life yet if we are constantly being overcome by sin, how can that be an abundant life in Christ Jesus? In fact, we are told that we should be going on from glory to glory always walking in triumph, but yet, they live a defeated life because they say we MUST SIN and SIN is the ruling force of their lives. This same teaching goes across most of modern Christianity in various ways. The words may be different, they may describe the problem using other means, but the reality is, they do not live the abundant life provided by Christ Jesus nor do they live in such a manner that the divine nature is manifested in and through their lives!
Please forgive me for speaking the truth, but the Bible tells us this would happen during the end times.
II Tim 3: 5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].
Please read that again. They deny and reject and are STRANGERS to the Power of (true religion) and their CONDUCT belies the genuineness of their profession.
One must ask if they are even saved. It is not my place to say only God knows. But I can ask this>>> How many professing “christians” do these verses in Second Timothy describe in this day; especially when we include what Peter has taught us?
Perhaps it would be far easier to answer the question, How many Christians today walk in II Peter 1, never stumbling or falling? And Paul tells us we are to avoid or turn away from EVERYONE who does not live like Peter has described!
OUCH!
How many people do you know who explain away their lack of obedience, their falling into sin, their failures and then they say in some way that God overlooks all of these faults? Please note: I am not claiming anything for myself. All I am doing is attempting to convey the things the Lord has taught me. I am no better than anyone else!
What is the final result of a person who truly does as Peter has described?
11Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This person, any person, will be brought into the UNDIVIDED KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST. That means there will not be a divided heart that pulls back to the world but rather is always seeking and willing to do the Will of God. Please note: This person is NOT PERFECT in the sense of never having to be corrected by the Lord; as perfect in all ways as God is perfect. No.
Our hearts will be perfect. We will walk and live in PERFECT LOVE! Everything about us will always desire to do the Will of God. But we will NOT have perfect light; we will not KNOW everything there is to know; we will still need to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit in all things at all times. We can NEVER be independent of God, for that is the essence of sin, independence from God and His ways.
But as we go along walking in the very steps of Jesus Christ living in the same way as HE lived, never doing or saying anything that the Lord does not tell us to say or do, He will show us light in other areas of our lives. Whenever He does, we IMMEDIATELY submit and yield to that knowledge, to that light. We will always have pure, unbroken fellowship with the Lord. We will never have a desire to do anything other than the perfect will of God. If ever He shows us that we lack, we will immediately allow Him to change BY FAITH (once more) so that our lives will continue on in Him.
This kind of life has been described by many people in many ways. It has been called the Normal Christians Life, Perfect Love, Christian Perfection, and many others as well. A number of years ago the Lord blessed me with a vision into the Heavenly Holy of Holies. I saw the Heavenly Ark of the Covenant where Jesus poured out His blood; there were angelic beings all around, but none of them were in focus. Above everything or perhaps permeating everything would be a better way to describe it, was the Shekinah Glory of the Lord. I cannot say I saw His Full glory, but I was made to know 2 things about what I saw.
1. Sin is impossible for the person who dwells there.
2. We can live there NOW but only by invitation. He invites whoever is willing to lay down their lives JUST LIKE JESUS did.
We must remember that God is NOT a respecter of persons. Whoever will do as HE asks will receive what He promises. He does not demand us to go there. He just offers it to whosoever will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him in the same steps He took.
We do not enter by keeping Laws. We do not enter by keeping the 10 Commandments. We only Enter by the obedience of FAITH, Humility, Submission, and Yieldedness. We must always retain the willingness to be wrong, to be corrected by the Lord.
I submit that Peter does not speak of following any Laws or rituals or anything else. He speaks, as does Paul, about following the Holy Spirit who is God. We are to obey HIM and whatever HE tells us; THESE are His commands. These are the Commands that we are to obey, not some list written in a book we call the Bible.
We obey HIM, not a list. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. If we are comforming to a list of rules, that is NOT following Him; that is NOT FAITH. That is compliance. Even so, by our striving, we can never obey with our hearts as the Bible tells us we are to do, let alone with PURE hearts; for we cannot purify our own hearts.
There is much more that could be said, but at this time, the Lord is telling me this is enough at present. Perhaps one of you readers will ask a question, even challenge something that is written here. Please do. I am NOT infallible and I claim nothing other than I am relating to you all what HE has placed in my heart. Perhaps I am not doing it as He would have me do so. Perhaps some of my words may have offended you. Forgive my poor obedience to the Revelation He has given to me. Instead, I ask you to overlook those areas where you feel you have been slighted personally.
I then ask you to be willing to lay aside everything you think is correct and ask the Lord Himself what HE says. Notice this>>>> Do not rely on what you think but what Jesus actually says to you. Trust HIM, not yourselves. I remind us all once more, how many times have we already been wrong? Could not we be wrong once more?
Then here is the real meat of this writing. How many times have we confessed and repented only to confess and repent again and again? How many times have we determined to follow the Lord only to fall down once more? How many times have we FAILED to do what we read in the Bible we are to do, to live?
Then, how many of us have actually done what PETER has told us to do? Are we willing to give this a try to see if this doctrine be true? Will it hurt us? (only our egos) How many of us have heard the definition of insanity as doing the same things over and over expecting Different results?
But how many of us continually do these same things over and over and hope that FINALLY we will walk as the Bible tells us we are to walk, Only to find ourselves back where we started or even worse off than when we began?
What God has shown me is another way, and in reality it is the ONLY WAY! It is PURELY by Faith. It does not demand we DO THINGS, ACTIONS! NO, it demands we lay down our lives in such a manner as we have never done before. It demands that we stop trying to perform actions or comply with commands that our experience shows us we have never been able to perform before; IF we are honest with ourselves.
How many of us have tried this way the Peter says results in our NEVER STUMBLING OR FALLING again? Have we REALLY tried it or have we only kidded ourselves?
I promise you, if we REALLY do as Peter explains we WILL live in the Holy of Holies; we will never stumble or fall. I know this is a challenge to many. But we have to STOP doing what we have always done before which has always resulted in failure. Or we can blow this off. You can forget about this as the ramblings of a heretic (as some have called me); as the fantasy of a deluded and deceived man who knows nothing about the Love of God (as others have claimed about me)
I ask how many of them have been willing to be misunderstood and even rejected just so they can speak God’s truth; because they REALLY DO CARE what happens to you? You see, the TRUTH only comes from those who TRULY CARE!
Does what these other people say agree with all the scriptures? Do they agree with what Peter said? Or do they look like the people Paul and Peter both said to stay away from? God is all about the TRUTH! The Holy Spirit is called, His NAME IS THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH! He always agrees with the WHOLE BIBLE. Nothing I have said contradicts the scriptures. Oh, it may contradict what others say about the Bible, but it does NOT contradict the Bible at all.
I was told that I would show the way to those who were willing to lose themselves in Christ. Are you? Are you willing to really lose yourself in Christ Jesus so that YOU stop living for yourself and ONLY live for what HE decides is right for you? Are you really willing to abandon yourself to the Lord that much? Are you willing to put Him to the test to see if what HE promised He is able to perform, just like Abraham did? Do you trust HIM that much or not?
If we have humble hearts, if we have truly allowed ourselves to be humbled by the Lord, then we must admit that we have never gone this way before. We must also admit that our lives do not look like the promises of the Lord contained in the scriptures. That is of course, if we are actually HONEST with ourselves and the Lord.
We may have tried many ways prior to this time. I guarantee you they did not work. How do I know this, because I have tried most of them myself. I admit I have NOT arrived. I do not YET have a perfect heart. BUT, I have gone far enough along this road to know this is the narrow path. I KNOW this is the ONLY WAY. It is the TRUTH and the LIFE. And without striving to be better; without attempting to comply with rules, laws, commands or even the commandments, my life, my HEART, has been more conformed to the VERY IMAGE OF CHRIST JESUS than ever before in my life. I could tell you that my family agrees with what I just said, but some of you will not believe me no matter what I say. I am grieved in my heart for all of you who are like this. There is no way I can explain to you the LOVE I have for everyone.
But the Lord’s LOVE does not compromise in the least. YES, it loves and cares for others greatly. But it will never, ever allow compromise; just like Jesus did not run after the rich, young ruler when he realized he had to give up everything in order to Follow Jesus, so too will Jesus not allow us to retain our own way of doing things, thinking, and especially NOT our independence.
I wish I could show you how I feel, how much I truly care, how I even love those I do not know, but words fail to convey this understanding. All I can say is this>>>> If you have found your life lacking ON THE INSIDE so that YOU KNOW your heart is NOT like Jesus’ own heart are you willing to take a chance NOT on me, but on the Lord Himself? How many of you have tried in vain so many different ways and still you are seeking for answers and relief to your burning heart’s desire?
I tell you, I promise you, if you will do as PETER said, you will find what you have been seeking, but ONLY as you believe He able to do what HE promised He would do!
God bless you all!
a bondslave in Christ Jesus, Dirk