Mirror, mirror on the wall.....

[Gideon]

 

When you look into a mirror, who do you see? As we stare at ourselves in the spiritual realm, do we see ourselves sinners, still bound by our old fleshly natures? Saved perhaps, but still sinners who will never be able to walk in true obedience until Jesus returns? Or do we see ourselves as children set free from the old nature that continually has bound us and kept us earth-bound? 

The answer we give is no small thing. Here is what the Bible tells us about how we see ourselves when we look in the mirror.

"But be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror; for he beholdeth himself, and then goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 

James 1:22-24

When many read this, their hearts sink. They read this verse as chains of legalism and teying to measure up to God's standard. But that is not at all what James is sharing. Do we remember the answer Jesus gave to the men who came beseeching Him for what they must do to work the works of God? 

"Believe on Him whom He has sent."

We can hear that we are new creatures, and that the old US is dead. We can hear that we are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit. We can hear that we have not only been forgiven, but have been delivered from the power of darkness. We can hear that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. But let us take care that satan does not deceive us at this critical point.  For upon hearing these great and wonderful truths, there is something we must DO to activate them.

We must believe them. 

Here I am not speaking of a generalized faith. That is simply head knowledge, assent with our minds. What God asks of each one of us is that we personalize these truths, believe they are OUR truths. If we do not, we give the enemy freedom to rob from us the very blessings our birthright entitles us to. 

How easy it is to read that we are new creatures, that we owe the flesh nothing..... NOTHING..... and walk away unaffected by that truth, forgetting what God has plainly declared to us. How important it is that we do not just accept in a "theoretical sort of way" that we are new creatures. We have been given armor, and weapons of war to fight.... and win....  but such amazing gifts can only profit us whwn we put them on.... by faith. 

Our God requests that we see ourselves  with eyes of faith that believe what the Word states about us, that we  WERE sinners, but we have been given brand new natures, natures that not only want ot fully obey Him but CAN.... and WILL obey! Glory! Yes, we have been forgiven, but we have been also washed, we have been made new! 

We are not asks to "perform" to a certain level to please Him. HE is the potter, not us. If we yield ourselves to Him, weak but pliable, He will do the changing, and it will take our breath away as we see the results of His workings from within us. 

Therefor, get your eyes off the old "you" when you stare into God's mirror. Listen to what He promises us:

 

But we all, with uncovered face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:18

The end of our journey approaches. There is safety found in Him alone. Let us all lose ourselves in Him, and as we look into the mirror, let our confession line up with what He says about us, not with what the enemy of our souls has whispered incessantly in our ears. 

How do we walk as Jesus walked? Whwn we look in the mirror, we see Jesus. Simple. As Paul declared, it is no more us that live, but Christ who now lives in us, and the life we now live we live by the faith of the Son of God. Amen and amen!

blessings to all, 

Gids

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Gideon

[steve morrow]

WALKING  IN  TRUTH 

1 JOHN 1:27  but the anointing which you have received of  HIM  abideth in you and you need not --THAT  ANY  MAN  TEACH  YOU-- but as the anointing teacheth you of all things --AND  IS  TRUTH-- and is no lie and even as it hath taught you -- YOU  SHALL  ABIDE  IN  HIM --

1 CORINTHIANS 11:1  be you followers of me even as I also --AM  OF  CHRIST --

JOHN 12:48  he that rejecteth  ME  and receiveth not  MY  words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day  --12:49-- for I have not spoken --OF  MYSELF-- but  THE  FATHER  which sent  ME  HE  gave  ME  a commandment what I should say and what I should speak 

--12:50-- and I know that  HIS  commandment is life everlasting whatsoever I speak therefore even as  THE  FATHER  said unto  ME  so I speak 

2 JOHN 1:4  I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth as we have --RECEIVED  A  COMMANDMENT  FROM  THE  FATHER--

JOHN 14:6  JESUS  saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto  THE  FATHER  but by  ME

ROMANS 15:18  for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which  CHRIST  hath not wrought by me to make the gentiles obedient by word and deed

ROMANS 6:16  know you not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death --- OR  OF  OBEDIENCE  UNTO  RIGHTEOUSNESS ---

 

JOHN 7:17 if any man will do  HIS  WILL  he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of  GOD  or whether I speak of myself  --7:18-- he that speaketh of himself ---SEEKETH  HIS  OWN  GLORY--- but he that seeketh his glory that sent him the same is true and no unrighteousness is in him 

PROVERBS 8:8  all the words of  MY  MOUTH  are in righteousness there is nothing froward or perverse in them 

 

1 JOHN 2:6  HE  THAT  SAITH  HE  ABIDETH  IN  HIM  OUGHT  HIMSELF  ALSO  SO  TO  WALK  EVEN  EVEN  AS  HE  WALKED 

 

LOVING  THE  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST 

[dhchristian]

On 6/28/2020 at 11:59 AM, Gideon said:

Here I am not speaking of a generalized faith. That is simply head knowledge, assent with our minds. What God asks of each one of us is that we personalize these truths, believe they are OUR truths. If we do not, we give the enemy freedom to rob from us the very blessings our birthright entitles us to. 

I Strongly feel the shallowness of textualism is being exposed in the church right now, and many are waking up to this even now. I Drove to Indianapolis this weekend and we were listening to Christian radio along the way, and the songs that are popular right now are just so shallow in their faith. one song just sings the story of the life of Jesus, as if just spouting off doctrine with no power behind the message.... Yes the doctrine is right, and the facts presented are accurate but something is missing... the vibrancy, the Joy, the Peace, and the worship of a Holy God is missing if not just trivialized.... I can't explain it fully.... They may say there is victory, but in the tone and language there is none.

Thanks for the Post, Well said.  

[dhchristian]

Just now, Josheb said:

Two questions: 

1) Are you an adherent of sinless perfectionism?

 

2) Should readers understand this op to be asserting the possibility of sinless perfection on this side of resurrection?

 

3) Can we choose option "C" = I am both saved and still-sinning?

I Do not think this is about "sinless perfectionism" But about walking In the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit. It is like having and owning a sword, versus knowing how to use those weapons accurately. We have been given so much by Our Lord and Savior to live victoriously but are afraid to learn to use those gifts. 

[Gideon]

1 hour ago, Josheb said:

Two questions: 

1) Are you an adherent of sinless perfectionism?

 

2) Should readers understand this op to be asserting the possibility of sinless perfection on this side of resurrection?

 

3) Can we choose option "C" = I am both saved and still-sinning?

 

 

.

To question #1, I am not an adherant of sinless perfectionism. This implies a state of being one arrives at, where it is no longer possible to sin. As well, by using the term "perfection", it implies "having arrived", task completed, which is something that will not happen this side of Heaven.

To question #2, there is a difference between sinless perfectionism and being kept by the power of God through faith.  

Has God not told us that He will not allow us to be tempted above our ability to resist, and will with the temptation, make a way of escape so that we do jot give in to it? 

Are we not told that our shields of faith will quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy? 

Have we not only been forgiven but delivered from the power of darkness? 

What is the difference between sinless perfectionism and what I have been given to share? One is a state we arrive at by effort, the  other a place where we are empowered to walk free indeed as we believe it to be so. 

Can we fall? Absolutely, for it is according to our faith be it unto us. Must we sin? Absolutely not. Not if it is God who keeps us from falling. Are we not told we are no longer in the flesh, and that we owe the flesh nothing? It is time we believed it for it is this faith, brought about by our reckoning our old man as dead, not dying, that allows us to fully walk in the "free indeed" Jesus clearly promised us. 

As to question #3, yes, we can indeed  to be saved and still keep sinning. But in these last days, God is opening up our eyes to the fullness of our birthright and from the least to the greatest, saints are going to finally believe His promises to us and stand up to satan as overcomers as they combine the blood of the lamb with the words of their testimony. And he, the devil, WILL flee from us. Guaranteed. 

Paul said he was crucified with Christ, nevertheless he  lived. Yet not he, but Christ now lived in Him  Did Paul "achieve" this, or was this the very declaration of faith we have been blinded to for generations, allowing Christianity to become simply a shell of what God has ordained that we walk in? 

Why would any opt for a life of pardon but imprisonment in Romans chapter 7 when God offers us true freedom from sin and self? We have up till now believed Romans 7 was inescapable, so we have sat back and accepted it as the best we can hope for. Sadly, we have, by and large, not had the same hatred of our self nature, our old man, as Paul so clearly did. And that is what is hindering us from walking as victors over the world, the flesh and the devil. We are content without godliness. 

What is it that keeps us trapped in unbelief, unable to grab hold of His clear promises to us? Simply that we do not yet hate our old carnal nature, and this cannot and will not continue. When we are broken, hungry, tired of having all the answers in our minds with all our doctrines tied up in neat little rows,  but with our hearts still imprisoned, robbed of the joy of our salvation, then the last tumbler in the lock will. turn, and the glory that fell on the early disciples will wash over us and prepare us to meet our Lord as we stand before Him without spot or wrinkle. 

We can scoff. We can doubt. But I pray, all who read this believe me, walking without falling IS possible to even the weakest and most bound among us. All we need to do is ask, but we must ask in faith, for if we doubt real victory is possible, we are right. 

blessings, 

Gids

Edited June 29, 2020 by Gideon

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Betha said:

Agree with you Gideon.....except when you say 'we have been washed, have been made new ....as that would make us perfect  already and unable to sin again.  Perhaps what you mean is that we are in the process of being perfected ? Even Paul an Apostle of God still had human problems when he kept doing what he did NOT want to do  Rom 7;   Phil 3v12. As long as we are walking on earth we are prone  to sin and need cleansing.

This is a good point. Thank you for bringing it up. Do you remember one of the principles of faith? 

"Believe that you receive it (now) and you will have it (some time past now)"

It is as we arm ourselves with the truth that our old man is truly dead and that sin no longer has  authority over us..... and continue to believe it, that that actualization of that promise begins to manifest itself in our lives. 

We are not told to stop bearing bad fruit. We are told to make our tree good!  And how do we do that? By faith!  We lay the axe to the root of sin, our old nature and actually arm ourselves with the truth that that old man we were is dead.  We put on our new nature by faith declaring that it is no more us that live but Christ who now lives in us. 

We yield ourselves to God not as sinners saved by grace but as those who were sinners but who now are new creatures, as those are alive from the dead. 

The key here is faith, speaking those things that are not as though they are. And to our amazement, when we do, we discover the Spirit  inside us begins to produce fruits and yes, keeps us from falling. 

The more our faith grows in the truth of who we are, the more our new nature is manifested. 

I pray this helps. 

Gids

 

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Betha said:

Agree with you Gideon.....except when you say 'we have been washed, have been made new ....as that would make us perfect  already and unable to sin again.  Perhaps what you mean is that we are in the process of being perfected ? Even Paul an Apostle of God still had human problems when he kept doing what he did NOT want to do  Rom 7;   Phil 3v12. As long as we are walking on earth we are prone  to sin and need cleansing.

Was Romans 7 Paul's testimony as He lived out his ministry in taking his own 'land of promise'? Or was it something he had to pass through, his wilderness of unbelief, until a thorough hatred for his old nature was worked into him? Until his nature that could not fully yield or fully believe God's  promises was exposed so he finally could do the one thing he could do to be freed. of its grip? And what was this last obstacle to escaping Romans 7 to live out his life in the joy of Romans 8? 

Reckon his old man as dead by an act of recklessly audacious  faith. 

Remember, the Paul of Romans 7 bemoaned the fact that the things he wanted to do, he could not do. But this same man declared later "I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me".  The actions  he longed to avid but could not in Romans 7? Later, he was not only keeping his body under but taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ! 

We have stumbled in unbelief, dear brother. We have limited the Holy One of Israel. But God has assured me, all that is fixing to  be changed. And it will be GLORIOUS! ?

blessings, 

Gideon

Edited June 29, 2020 by Gideon

[Gideon]

13 minutes ago, Josheb said:

How is it you associate this op with the premise of "These last days"? The last days, according to the NT writers occurred in the first century, not the 21st century. Is eschatology and soteriology or pneumatology being conflated? Why do that when the answer: we can indeed be saved and still keep sinning, has NOTHING to do with whether or not we're in the last days or final day? 

 

 

Acts 2:14-20

 

 

 

 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.  For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.  But

this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel

:

 “‘And in the

last days

it shall be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,

 

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

 

and your young men shall see visions,

 

and your old men shall dream dreams;

 

 even on my male servants and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

 

 And I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

 

blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;

 

 the sun shall be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood,

 

before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

 

 

"

[/i]

Peter explicitly states the "last days" prophesy was coming true right then and there at Pentecost in the first century! The last days were in the first century. Why imply otherwise?

 

2 Timothy 2:24-3-9 

 

 

 

"The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,  with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,  and they may come to their senses

and escape

from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. B

ut realize this, that

in the

last days

difficult times will come

.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,  treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.  For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,  always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these

men

also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.  But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also.

"

Here the matter is implicit, not explicit, but Paul is writing to Timothy with clear indication Timothy will experience these conditions, otherwise the words will turn out to be meaningless and unnecessary. Similarly, Paul provides examples contemporary to his day to make the generic specific. There is nothng in the passage indicating Paul intends to be writing to Timothy events that are at least a score of centuries in the future.

 

Hebrews 1:1-4

 

 

 

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,  in

these

last days

has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,  having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

 

"

The author of Hebrews wrote "these last days," not "those last days"! The Greek doesn't allow for a far-future translation (or interpretation). Furthermore, the author of Hebrews is firmly couching his exposition in the first advent of Christ! Not the second. It was in the first century that God spoke to us in His Son. The contrast is stated: long ago He spoke to us in the prophets; most recently He spoke to us in His Son. 

 

James 5:1-3

 

 

 

"Come now,

you

rich, weep and howl for

your

miseries which are coming upon

you

.  

Your

riches have rotted and

your

garments have become moth-eaten.  

Your

gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against

you

and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in

the last days

that

you

have stored up your treasure!

"

Who is James writing to here? Who is the "you" in this passage? Is it his contemporaries? Or is it people living 20 centuries latter; people he's never met? How does he know what rich people 20 centuries from the date of his writing will look like? Furthermore, his conjugation is past-tense: the riches "have" rotted and rusted, not will rot and rust. We see the same conditions evident in 2 Peter 3:3, which I will not quote to save space. 

Now, unless the "last days" are being associated with an Amillennial or Postmillennial perspective which holds the last days began back in the first century and continue on until the last day (singular) there's a conflict between the op and scripture. So.... is an amil or postmil pov being asserted and why is any eschatological position being asserted when the op works perfectly fine without it. Or... if the intent is to assert a Dispensationalist pove then(again), why? 

Why foist that premise on your own op when the op is better served without it? Is this op really about eschatology and not soteriology or pneumatology? 

Brother, you are going to have a hard time convincing me of what you say. You see, fourteen years ago, in my 'crisis moment', bound by sin wrapped around both my neck and my heart, Jesus appeared to me, yes physically, and spoke to me, yes, audibly. .The truth I share of putting off our old man by faith and clothing ourselves with our new nature was given to me by Him. 

He showed  me the overall history of the church and His purposes in the pathways it has taken. And yes, my dear friend, He is coming again, and yes, it is soon. 

You can try to convince me but it will fall on deaf ears. My goal is to simply awaken His children to who they are in Christ and to their joy and  amazement,  they WILL walk as overcomers as they combine the blood of the Lamb with the Word of their testimony that they ARE new creatures and owe the flesh nothing. 

I ask that this not be turned into a debate/discussion on whether or not Jesus is soon to come. I have read your reasonings, in another post, and do  not agree.  I want to keep this post solely about who we see in our mirror. Do we see with carnal eyes or eyes of faith? That will keep this post on track. Thanks for honoring my request. 

As to your final question, this OP is simply a word to the heart of every weary saint. it is no more complicated than that. ?

blessings, 

Gids

Edited June 29, 2020 by Gideon

[David1701]

1 hour ago, Gideon said:

This is a good point. Thank you for bringing it up. Do you remember one of the principles of faith? 

"Believe that you receive it (now) and you will have it (some time past now)"

It is as we arm ourselves with the truth that our old man is truly dead and that sin no longer has  authority over us..... and continue to believe it, that that actualization of that promise begins to manifest itself in our lives. 

We are not told to stop bearing bad fruit. We are told to make our tree good!  And how do we do that? By faith!  We lay the axe to the root of sin, our old nature and actually arm ourselves with the truth that that old man we were is dead.  We put on our new nature by faith declaring that it is no more us that live but Christ who now lives in us. 

We yield ourselves to God not as sinners saved by grace but as those who were sinners but who now are new creatures, as those are alive from the dead. 

The key here is faith, speaking those things that are not as though they are. And to our amazement, when we do, we discover the Spirit  inside us begins to produce fruits and yes, keeps us from falling. 

The more our faith grows in the truth of who we are, the more our new nature is manifested. 

I pray this helps. 

Gids

 

Hmm ... this sounds suspiciously like WoF teaching - I hope not.

Our faith is to be in the Lord Jesus Christ, not in whom we have become.  Yes, we are new creatures; but we are to LOOK AWAY to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, trusting in HIM, to work in us, to will and to do of His good pleasure.

[Gideon]

1 hour ago, Josheb said:

Then ignore my words and rely upon what scripture clearly states. Similarly, do not rely on your own personal anecdotal experience, but rely on God's word as written, plainly read. If you weren't a Christian when sin wrapped around your neck then what you're saying is you're relying on a pre-regeneration experience of the flesh. I would encourage you not to rely upon that, either. 

The "putting off our old man by faith and clothing ourselves with our new nature was given to me by Him" isn't something unique to you. It's common to all the regenerate here and it's hubris to thing the putting off of the old man and the putting on of the new is yours alone... especially since Paul wrote about 20 centuries ago! 

Whether or not Jesus is coming again and coming soon has nothing to do with 1) we must clothe ourselves in Christ, 2) it's unnecessary to throw a given eschatological pov onto that (especially since it marginalizes many Christians), 3) the ignoring of the scriptures that speak to the matter (especially since we're all looking for a return of Christ), and 4) if you're not being forthcoming with your readers that's disingenuous.

I did not give you my opinion. I gave you scripture. 

I asked a very specific and valid question: Why foist a given eschatology unnecessarily upon something that has little to do with the end times? Why limit the respondents to your view of end times?

The solution is simple: just say outright this is tied to your Dispensational eschatology! Then we'll know. 

 

 

.  

The truth I have been given to share has been available to any desperate enough to believe it, right now or fifteen hundred years ago. 
 

Why share it now, in the manner in which I do? Simple.

1) We are not ready for what is approaching on the horizon.... evil of a magnitude we have no comprehension of. 

2) We are in no ways ready to meet the Lord. As you like to say "near" means "near", as well, 'without spot or wrinkle" means exactly that. Are we walking in such an amazing, overcoming, joy-infused state?  Hardly. We are far more content to battle in a show of wits and "our" understanding of scriptures, that we are more right than other brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are quite content to be theoretically spotless, but as to a deep burning desire to lose our lives so that He van live in us?Vy and large, with few precious exceptions,  I think not.  

We are content with fat spiritual heads and hearts barren of  almost any spiritual fruits declaring that 'Jesus lives here." We are content with forgiveness yet lacking any overwhelming desire to actually walk holy before the Lord. 

Jesus IS coming soon, and as Jesus said, things in nature know their times and seasons, but Is own children are too busy with either playing religion or entertaining themselves with the affairs of this life to see what is plain fpr any to see..... if they have eyes open to God's voice.

Brother, I want to be gentle with you, but you have a way of talking down to people. There is a clinicsl  sterility in your words, a lack of empathy, kindness or humility. I do not say this to wound you but to help you. Do not trust your understanding of scripture. The carnal mind thinks it understands but more often than not, interprets from educational background, or readings written by other men.

The putting off of the old man is absolutely not something unique to me, I fully agree. But I had been a follower of tge Lord for 38 years and no one had ever taught me what God did that amazing night. I had Romans 6 memorized. But until the Lord took away the veil of misunderstanding from my eyes fourteen years ago and let me see that knowing I was dead with my mind is a far cry from, by faith, reckoning it to be an accomplished fact, I was wandering as a blind man. 

What happened to me is truly of no importance. You can believe it or choose not to. It matters not. But what He shared with me DOES matter, and it is pure scripture. When we are told our shield of faith, if raised, will quench ALL the fiery arrows of satan, does All mean ALL? You bet it does. 

As I stated, rhe thrust of this post is the truth of the need for, by faith, standing up to satan whwn temptations arise, and resisting him with the spirit's understanding that the old us actually really did DIE. What are we promised whwn we do so? He WILL flee from us. Will means WILL. ? 

blessings, 

Gids