Pekoudah

I believe the bible to be the words from God. They are inspired by the Holy Ghost. But translations from the original languages are sometimes lacking in the original intent of the words...in order to try making sense to what they thought it meant. So we have to factor in that problem. Another problem is when an idea written as is...makes no sense at all...well some sense must be given to it. It has to be presentable in the given language. If it is too mysterious sounding...it is changed...much to the detriment of a proper understanding. When we read it...it is for us...not for a publisher. So we can let the word be obscure...or retain the mystery... until the truth is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. That is the advantage of NOT being a translator with an agenda to make sense of the word in a limited time frame. We can take our time and wait upon the Lord for His guidance. After all, Jesus said the SPIRIT would teach us...not our own intellect. So where the translators filled with the Spirit so that the translated words carry all the original meanings and intent? NO. We need to go to the original language to see the problems the translators faced. We need to look to the Spirit to help us to understand. So then Jesus says..."go the extra mile". Do we do this in our study of the bible? This means we need to be more careful to not stop at what the English words "sound like" to us. We need to dig deeper and be ready to throw out human logic and reasoning...to get at the truth. Now this is an important topic when you consider that the bible is written in a way that is unlike any other book. The bible is unique. As such we must compare the words found within against itself...or other times the same word is used. Now the Greek word εις (eis) is a case in point. The gospel of John uses this word often. Of course John is speaking of spiritual things...things not meant to be grasped by human logic...but by the Spirit. εις (eis): Definition.."to" or "into" Let's let the bible reveal the bible... John 12:46 I have come into (εις) the world as light, so that whoever believes in (actually "into" εις) me may not remain in darkness. (an inconsistency in translation here changes the same word differently the second time it is used in the same sentence...and loses the logic flow of the words of Jesus in the bargain) So then...Jesus has come INTO the world as light, so that whoever believes INTO Him does not remain in darkness. The light of God is found IN Jesus. The word εις implies movement....going from one place to another. We go TO Jesus in order to enter INTO Jesus. It is a supernatural transaction. This goes far beyond a human logic. In fact, human logic can only hinder our faith towards God. It is like being able to fly by entering INTO an airplane. It is the plane that can fly...not us. But we take on the ability to fly by entering INTO that which can. So in the same way we enter into Christ in order to walk as He walked....and to love as He loves. We do this by faith. Can faith move us? Jesus said faith can move a mountain. So, yes...even faith is not what we logically think it is. In fact, human logic has to be left out of the equation if we are to get an accurate picture of what the gospel is telling us. Biblical faith is not just believing ABOUT Jesus it is a faith that moves us INTO Jesus where He is. Eternal life is found only in Him. So then we enter into Him where there is light and life. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes INTO (εις ) him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus often challenged His disciples with their weak faith...or lack thereof. As in...where's your faith? Now for us humans, this kind of faith (in miraculous power from God) is not at all natural. But Jesus seems to be goading us to dive in ...to what is fully outside our comfort zones. Whenever faith is spoken of it is always in a miraculous context. Moving mountains...throwing trees into the sea...even being planted therein. Paul says .... Gal. 3:5 He therefore that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Working miracles? Jesus told His disciples to raise the dead.... Mat. 10:8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. This is certainly a standard that is far above what we see in the churches of today. We can ignore Jesus' commands...but is this not due to a lack of faith? Is anything too hard for God? Can we not do ALL things through the strengthening power of grace in Christ? What about....seek first the kingdom of God?....certainly THAT is for everyone! But the kingdom is not of this world. So then faith has to take us to another place...another realm. Or is it still faith according to the bible? So then faith makes things move. Faith is alive...living faith in a living God. Dead faith in a dead idea of God. Now Jesus also said...will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns? Not human religious beliefs based on opinions...but real faith that qualifies to do the works of God in power? Are we not being challenged in our faith? Lord increase our faith.

Gen. 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. I think this relates to the 2 great commandments. The greatest is to love God...and the lesser of these great commandments is to love others as ourselves. It is holiness..in the light: Righteousness in the darkness. See the contrast here...we are to do our works so as to be seen of men (a light on a hill)...this regards holiness. But we are also to do our works in secret...this regards righteousness. So spiritually the first is in the day...in the light...and the other at night, where the left hand can't see what the right hand is doing... John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. Where no man can work the holiness of God in the world. The world is straying farther and farther from the truth. But the church need not follow the world. We are spiritually in the night where the church is sleeping. We can yet hold fast what we have been given...and learn to love in a more and more sacrificial way. If we are truly in the time of night...before the break of a new day....then we can still work righteousness through loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord. After all...Jesus said that we would be known for our love....miraculous power notwithstanding. The late Jean Vanier was not a man of miraculous faith yet the world saw him as a man of God nonetheless. And we can seek the Lord for His power to restore the church to it's rightful place of revival and ambassadorship to the coming kingdom of God. Maybe God is waiting until we learn the lesser of the 2 great commandments of love before giving us the power to fulfill being the light of the world. See how divided we are. The day is fast approaching. Soon, I believe we will be able to work again in the miraculous power of God as a witness to the world that Jesus Christ is risen and alive...and sovereign. Until then we can watch and pray and be obedient with the measure of faith we have been given.

Going in the name and power of the Lord by the Spirit.

I hear you Jane. I think we need the kind of faith that Jesus questioned would still be on earth before His return. We need to stop being self-absorbed...even in matters of faith...and make ourselves available for God. We need to think sacrificially. "Send me Lord" If repentance from sins and dead works is required may this be done with a whole heart. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. We don't receive because we don't ask as we ought to. Lord bring a revival of your truth and your power...in your presence. Lord, make your people holy...without You we can do nothing. <><

Results may vary!

I too believe that there is a parting of the ways coming in the future. There will be a revival of truth that will either attract people to a deeper walk or scare them off. It must be that brother turns against brother...Cain will rise up against Abel again....because men will see the approval of God on His people. This will cause a jealousy in they who walk in their old natures...so that the natural persecutes the spiritual. Same as it ever was.

It is interesting to note that in John 1 it says the word (singular) was made flesh. IOW there is a hidden word or a word with a hidden meaning in the OT text that became flesh. Prov. 25:2 "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter ( דבר word), But the glory of kings is to search out a matter (דבר word)." What is the "word" that became flesh? It is יהוה

Treating others as you want to be treated (IOW seeing others just as human as you are so then loving your neighbour as yourself) is in all the great religions and philosophies. After all, if we can't get along with each other...society breaks down. So then Confucius and Socrates both subscribed to loving your neighbour...and in this there were indeed teaching correctly...on the human level. But there is more to life than what meets the mortal senses. Christianity is about an eternal kind of life that loves in a divine way...not just a human way. A Christian loves as Jesus loves...at least if that person is abiding in Christ. Christianity is about power...the power of God brought about by God having been incarnated into mankind through Jesus Christ. So then yes....the difference is Jesus Christ. :)

2 Thess. 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; I see that the churches have opted for numbers rather than content...for quantity rather than quality. Success is being measured by worldly standards...more followers, more money. So from a worldly standpoint, there seems to be no problem. But with the natural build-up of religious adherents there is a converse spiritual falling away. A spiritual diluting of the truth. When there were few bibles, there was revival...at the early church stage. But with the multiplication of bibles and bible ownership did not come an explosion of spiritual life. The narrow road just got wider and wider to accommodate fewer and fewer real conversions. But there is a savvy among men. We know how to make things appear to be working. We are experts at that. So then either God didn't get the memo about how good we are doing...or maybe we aren't getting the serious nature of tampering with the truth.

To fix any position on a map you need 2 references. On the globe we have latitude and longitude. If you only have the one reference you could be somewhere in Antarctica. The same goes for spiritual positioning. We have the word (in the bible)...a very solid reference. But the word by itself can make thousands of denominations located all over the map. (Actually that's exactly what has happened) The sola scriptura ploy is just a subtle way of saying that a person's private interpretation is as good for one person as for another. The reformation did many things...and one is to idealize a private interpretation of the bible. When people read the bible as if it is the only reference to truth they tend to form religious opinions that do not match the opinions of others. So chaos ensues. No, we need another point of reference....the Spirit. The Spirit is the compass just as the bible is the map. The Spirit locates us in the word and shows us the right direction. Can the bible of itself say to someone.."separate for Me so-and so and so and so??" Jesus said that the Spirit would guide us into all truth...not the bible. John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. The purpose of God is that we walk in Him...in the power of the Holy Spirit...not in a carnal state with a bible in our hands. We need to let the bible do it's part...lead us to Him...and then use it as a reference that shows us the lay of the land. We should never limit God. John said that all that Jesus did could not be contained in ALL the books of the world. Let us not limit our walks to a religious understanding based on a private interpretation of the bible...but become ONE with God and others who also have His life in them. Just like the bible tells us to! <><

Taken from another forum..."The “foolish virgins” will have lost out on being a part of the bride of Christ, and of participating in the marriage of the Lamb, but nevertheless they are still considered “virgins” (pure ones), and as blessed virgins they will be invited to the wedding feast. (Rev 19:7-9) “The royal daughter (the Church) is all glorious within the palace; her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; the virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; they shall enter the King’s palace.” (Psa 45:13-15) "The virgins her companions" who follow, born of the spirit through great tribulation will be present at the marriage festivities as the bridesmaids but not as the bride of Christ."

Gal. 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Isaiah 52:1 [1] Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Is. 28:16 So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken. i Pet. 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The New Jerusalem is the building of God with Jesus as the cornerstone and foundation. The will of God is to fit us, as living stones, (alive in the Spirit) together for His holy habitation. Psalm 48:12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, When the author of Hebrews gives examples of faith, he uses the case of Enoch who was translated to God because he pleased the Lord. Heb. 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Enoch was taken up to be with God....physically. But in Christ the same thing happens....but spiritually. By FAITH. Jesus is pleasing to God. Those who abide in Christ are therefore also pleasing to God. Our testimony is that that pleasing brings us into God's presence through being translated to His dwelling place....in Zion which is above. (His kingdom) Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: Can anyone see the parallel here?

But God is Spirit and He abides in the Jerusalem which is above...which is the mother of all who are born from above. We are reconciled to the living God in THAT place through faith into (and through) Christ. Being born of the Spirit is to be born in Zion...the new Jerusalem (the mother (birthing) of us all). This psalm is what Jesus was referring to when He told Nicodemus that he must be born again (from Zion) from above. Ps 87:1 His foundation is in the holy mountains. 2 The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. 6 The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee. Three times it states that people are born in Zion....IN her. This is the Jerusalem which is above. The holy city. The city of our God and of His saints. God is Spirit. He visits us here but He dwells in heavenly habitations. The point of the gospel is that God is taking visitors WHERE He lives. I love where the disciples asked Jesus...where do you live? Jesus replied....come and see!

God has chosen Zion as His abode. Ps. 68:16 Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountains, at Mount Zion, where God has chosen to live, where the LORD himself will live forever? Ps. 76:2 His tabernacle is in Salem; His dwelling place also is in Zion. Ps. 132:13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. Where is Zion? In the heavenly place! How are we seated together with Christ in the presence of God? Through abiding in Christ. Jesus Christ is the door....the gateway into heaven. There is more than one level of meaning to this. But we all have access by faith into the fulness of that meaning...into the very presence of God. Beliefs won't do it. It takes a certain kind of faith. The faith OF Jesus. The bible says...the just shall walk by HIS faith. Whose faith? It depends on what level of justification we are speaking of. The truth is multi-faceted (that's why there is so much disagreement and confusion) The truth is like a wheel inside a wheel. But the deeper part of the truth ( the inner wheel) is that we are to walk in Zion WITH Jesus which makes us to walk on this earth just as He did. It is the lack of this depth of understanding which has taken the truth out of it's powerful context to change the world. By making it something that beliefs can handle without faith.

Jesus Christ Himself is the transporter to the Father and HIS realm in the Spirit. Col. 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: Being a mediator is like a transporter in the Star Trek stories. In Christ we go to where God is. That is what it means to abide in Christ. To be translated from one place to another. But the mystery goes deeper here. Through Him we have access to the very throne of God. We can walk in His perfection. Whether or not that will be realized by each one of us in our lifetime is not the issue. We should see this as a body thing whereby the brethren bring treasures from heaven. It is like when friends visit a foreign land.....and bring us something back. So it is with spiritual gifts. These encourage us to wards the spiritual inclination to be available for God. There is a trend in todays teachings that would minimize the depths of Christ so as not to seem to leave anybody out. But this trend has hurt the church and it's potential for growth and power in a decisive way. We need to start thinking as a body. We need the gifts in the body...even if it isn't us ourselves having them. We need to start thinking as a team. The bible speaks constantly of impossible things. Jesus says that we ought to heal the sick and raise the dead. We need to rise to the challenge of faith...not shield people from the high calling in Christ.

The natural man is to be broken in order to let the life of Jesus come out. Christians have the potential for a spiritual walk... The natural man is the normal order of things...and the source of power of immature believers who have not yet been broken by a deeper work of the cross. You are bringing in an indoctrination here...claiming what is "saved" and what isn't. You are being vague about the state of an immature Christian. What Christians need is not more indoctrinated Christians who have been born again. They need a mature spiritual person to help them. Otherwise you get the blind (to themselves) leading the blind. As I stated earlier...it is one thing to know God but quite another to know yourself. So many have fallen short of the grace of God in this way. The work of the cross of Christ is to transform us from a person that walks in his own power...to one who walks by the power that resurrected Jesus from the dead. Phil. 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Paul divides these in 2 phases....to know Him AND be made spiritual through a conforming to the Lord's death and life...in his moment by moment walk. Paul was already a believer at this stage, but he wanted to be fully conformed to Christ. Which part of us is to be a living sacrifice? The natural man. We are to count all things in the natural as loss that we may win Christ. Does this mean that the natural man is evil? No...but it means that our natural faculties and efforts are INSUFFICIENT to the standard of the grace of God. If we never break with the natural man and his power...we will frustrate the grace of God. So then it is the power of the cross we need to look for in order to break the natural grip we hold on to this world with. We need to get a divinely assisted spiritual grip on things. And how do we do that? Did I mention the natural man as a living sacrifice!

If the inner man gets help from outside (God) then there is no more use for the natural man. So it is to the benefit of the natural man to keep the inner man weak and dependent...but on himself. So this is the SELF-confident, SELF-sufficient nature at work. The natural man is really connected to the rebellion of the angels who came here to rule over this creation. As long as we don't see that...we will try improving ourselves through religious efforts. But there is a chasm between what the natural man can do...and what God is looking for in us. Jesus said if a man seeks to save his own life (natural man) he will lose it (a chance for real life) ...but if a man gives up his life for Christ (the natural man and his life) then he will find it (the inner man and the abundant life offered to him). The natural man carries the death of Jesus (His cross) so that the life of Jesus can penetrate to the inner man. I have a known a number of believers who thought that now that they have been awakened to the truth...and even operated in the spiritual gifts...that they are always walking in the Spirit. But what has changed in this condition is that they have added on a spiritual persona on top of a carnal walk. These then "spiritualize' their natural lives by replacing common things with more spiritual sounding terms...like rather than be happy...they are "blessed." etc... Some will say.... Once a person is born again the natural man is HISTORY. This is a common error in thinking. It is a confusion between a power that kept us captive....the old sin nature.... and a lack of spiritual maturity. What has been dealt with at the cross in the initial phase is not the death of the natural man...unless a person be no longer among the physical living...but it is the "old" man who is put to death. The old man is the sin NATURE that caused us to be hostile to God besides being fully ignorant of Him. The old man veils us from receiving any truth. With that out of the way there is still the soul to win for Christ. There is still the carnal mind to win over (or renew) from it's very natural dependence on soulish faculties. Does everyone who begins in the Spirit only rely on spiritual faculties? Paul cites the Galatians as foolish for turning to be perfected by other means than by the Spirit. So we are talking about the PROCESS of becoming spiritual in Christ. Many believers never advance in this through a bad teaching...a lack of discipleship...but be assured we are indeed talking of Christians. The Laodiceans were a people who over-estimated their growth in Christ. Having taken the first step, these claimed now to have won the race. Paul speaks of the Corinthians as being carnal believers. IOW not yet spiritual. The writer of Hebrews also laments the lack of growth in many in the church. So we see this is a common problem. There is a general lack of knowledge about these things. So then it is very common for a person who is born again to yet walk in his own natural strength. The difficulty is being weaned of the soul life so as to become spiritual in Christ.

What are we do with the gospel message? How do we respond to the calling of God? When we respond from the outer man we get religion...institutions...and every other worldly version of the way in Christ. But this is a counterfeit of the truth. God is calling us in the inner man. Deep is calling to deep. But something is in the way. The carnal, natural man wants to live...even more than the inner man does. So then, Houston, we have a problem. A way must be found to get the leachy natural man out of the way so to be able to come to the rescue of the inner man. Think of a bully who hogs all the food so that the weaker one gets nothing. That is the way of the world...AND that is the way we have learned to survive in the world. But we need no longer do this because of the Lord's grace provision to be strengthened in the inner man. Eph. 3:16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. What is the provision to get the natural man out of the way of this pipeline of grace to the inner man? The cross of Christ. The cross of Christ breaks the husk of the outer natural man...so that the inner man is reachable to God to be filled with His grace. So then with the outer man we take on religious ideas and opinions. But these stand in the way of the truth...which is life in Christ. It is therefore the life of Christ (the truth) which sets us free. Free in the natural man? NO...the inner man. Most people will not receive a doctrine that breaks up what they identify with as being themselves because they are ignorant of their own true condition...They will rail against the truth (and again I am speaking of many Christians here) in favour of a scheme that saves them according to their lack of knowledge of themselves. Look at the condition of the church (Laodicea) in the last days. Laodicea means the opinions of the people....or a people who have received the "truth" ...but not in the inner man. They have taken on the gospel so as to save themselves...but the wrong part. God resists the proud outer man but gives grace to the humble inner man. The outer man is incapable of faith...but he is capable of belief. Why is this? Because the outer man is NEVER going to receive eternal things. The natural man is meant to be broken in order to give access to the inner man...the man that is called to faith. Any short circuiting of the truth by the natural man causes the inner man to remain as is always was...weak and destitute. It takes real faith to forsake the natural man and look to God. But that is what we are called to do.

Let us define our terms before beginning into a study on what constitutes the ceiling of the inner man to the faith OF Jesus Christ. We could see ourselves as a seed with a protective husk around it. The outer husk is the natural man, the carnal man...who so often is presented as being who we are. Most people are only as deep as what limits them to the natural man. They don't know a deeper way. But there is a deeper part to us...an inner man whose condition is largely unknown to most people. This inner man is the person of the heart...vulnerable and weak. It is the outer natural man that protects this inner man from the cruelties and hardness of this world. We need the natural man to get us through our day...that is unless we find another way to strengthen the inner man. And that would be Christ. So then we ARE the inner man in reality. But few of us want to identify with what is weak, naked, wretched and blind. THAT is our true condition before being clothed with Christ....who is our strength. But we need to know ourselves....as well as God. The truth sets us free. But there are barriers to the truth within us that must be overcome....by faith. Jesus said to the Laodiceans...who saw themselves in no need of anything...that they were poor, naked, wretched, and blind. But that is the condition of ALL men that have not put on strength from heaven. THAT is our natural condition in the world. The truth is always like a wheel within a wheel...so just when we think we understand something....there is more to it. Getting to know God is hard enough...but getting to know ourselves is harder. Most people live in this world known to others but not to themselves. And this includes Christians. God reveals Himself to us...but who reveals himself as he truly is? God is honest. But are we? So then the first step to knowing ourselves is to realize that the strength we have depended on all our lives is from the natural man. The natural man has learned how to get by in this world. The natural man brings success in the world. But it is but a put on persona...that has no eternal value whatsoever. So we are not to look for advancement in this world that is perishing. We are to invest in the inner man together with eternal things.

There is an ongoing mystery as to the ways of God regarding the Christian life. We receive as a free gift the implanted "Christ in you"...the HOPE of glory (not the fact of glory). So we are born again into a calling...a potential that if realized, yields a weight of glory. But we can either be wise with this deposit...or foolish. Yet we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." It is like getting a free printer with a small free sample of ink...which soon runs out. To get more ink costs a fortune. So most people just hang on to the free printer....but a printer whose potential is never utilized due to the lack of ink. Now on judgment day we will be asked to provide all the copies we made with our printer. Those who went out to buy more ink will receive a reward for the copies they made. But those who were too "cheap" to buy more ink will be deemed as lazy servants and denied entrance into the future kingdom. IOW...we are to strive and seek to enter into the kingdom life now...paying the price of admission now...or we may just find out too late what the value of getting that ink is worth today. So then likewise we have received lamps from the Lord...but without the oil it gives off no eternal light. If we lack oil we need to go to the Lord for a new filling...at all costs.

This is going to be an in depth study about the identity of Jesus Christ.....as per both testaments. I will be drawing a parallel between Gen. 28 and John 1 Jacob's ladder... Gen. 28:12 And he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. In Hebrew it reads like this... וְהִנֵּה מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים, עֹלִים וְיֹרְדִים בּוֹ The last word in Hebrew translated as "on it" is actually "in Him." So the correct Hebrew sentence should read... and behold the angels of God ascending and descending in Him. Now we know that Jesus is the door......but the door to what? To heaven! Notice the parallel to the Genesis account with what Jesus says... John 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Notice that the ladder to heaven and the door to heaven are IN Jesus Christ. Gen. 28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. כִּי אִם-בֵּית אֱלֹהִים, וְזֶה, שַׁעַר הַשָּׁמָיִם Jesus is both the house of God AND the gate of heaven.

Now this may come as a shock to modern ears...but we need to buy from the Lord the entrance into His kingdom. Is. 55:1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. The difference between wisdom and foolishness in the parable of the 10 virgins is that half of them neglected to buy more oil for their lamps... Mat. 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. To the Laodiceans who thought they had everything already Jesus counsels them... Rev. 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Do we not take seriously Jesus words and parables meant to teach us the ways of the kingdom? Mat. 13:44 The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field. This is about being a disciple of Christ. Luke 14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. The cost of oneness in Christ ...is all we have and are.

Everyone who has been born anew is running around with Christ in them...a great potential for glory...but we should be seeking both individually and collectively to further enter into Him. Too many think of salvation is in one step...and are willing to claim the free stuff. But the free stuff is there to attract us to seek the face of the Lord. Are we satisfied with the presence of God we presently walk in? Are we satisfied with the level of oneness we see in the church today? Is there not more to the Christian life than this? We perish for a lack of knowledge of God's ways. We perish for a lack of knowledge of His power and grace. The first thing that happens when we enter into Christ...is that we are ONE with every other person who is also in Christ. WE, then, take on the mind of Christ. But until we actually enter into Christ we remain individualistic having our own minds. Until then, we will have no real idea of what it means to be "members one of another." We won't be able to discern the body until we enter into the Head of Christ. We are to walk IN Him. Just look at all the divisions come when we are "half-baked" in the Lord. Why don't more people enter into Christ? The cost is everything we have and are. We receive Christ in us as a free sample....but to enter into Him is difficult and very costly for us. We are to labour to enter into His rest. But spiritual laziness in endemic...especially with the help of half-truths that put people to spiritual sleep. Let us rather consider the cost of Oneness in the Lord and be willing to buy what the Lord is selling. (not with money but with our lives) Arise and Christ will give you light. Peace