Lesson #7 - Part 3
Sonship- Revealing the children of God
Born again- Your new identity as the Beloved
Open your eyes- Light vs darkness
Beholding- How do we live with unveiled faces
My intentions of the first 7 lessons of this blog is to give you an overview of, what in the world is happening. The bible is written (the actual physical writing) by different authors, over thousands of years, in different places in the history of time but, inspired entirely by God. That is the only reason that, given what I just said, the Bible makes sense.
Without God's devine plan it can not make sense. People cannot hold a story in tact over just one afternoon of telling it over and over again, let alone over thousands of years.
God not only inspired it but He also protected it, so that to this very day, us as believers will know what He has done and what He will do. Wow!
I hope that you can see how jealous He is for you. Not as some love crazed boyfriend but as a loving parent who has determined that His children will remain in this God foresaken place until their death or until He himself comes for them.
Why? Because rebellion of the angels in the heavens caused God to decree that all souls must be tested. Your faith is being tested here on this earth and it is worth more than gold to our Father. When you go to heaven all will be said and done. You will have been found to be worthy and righteous through His Son Christ Jesus. Which is His plan.
I like to think of the Bible not just as a book of rules but also as a book of instruction. The two may sound the same but they are not. I can open up a book of rules and know what I should and shouldn't do accordingly but when I open up the book and combine it with instruction, that was written with mercy and grace by a Father who says in it that all of this is being done because He loves me, well then that is an altogether different book!
Used with instruction I now can apply the "rules" to my life and allow the instruction to transform me from glory to glory in the exact image and likeness of Christ. A rule is something to be read for the purpose of gaining knowledge. Instruction is for application.
I can read my driving test booklet and take the test that doesn't mean that I can go out on the road and know how to drive. I have the knowledge yes, but I need the instruction.
I remember right after I took my daughter to the DMV to take her driving test. She past! As we were walking back to the car she motioned for me to give her the keys and made a beeline to the drivers side of the car (even to this day thinking about it makes me laugh). There was no way she was going to drive me home, oh no, not without instruction.
We went out afterwards and I taught her what to look out for. How to guage the actions of the other drivers. Are they distracted and can they see you? Will they cut out from behind you while you are trying to merge on the freeway? What commonly causes accidents, e.g. traffic suddenly coming to a stop and how to see the tell tell signs by watching the brake lights up ahead of you. Yes, in order for her to be a good driver and more importantly to be on my insurance, she had to combine her knowledge of the rules with my instruction.
The Lord wants to teach and instruct you if you are willing, so that you may grow in your knowledge of Him and allow that knowledge to manifest fruit for God in your life. He does that by teaching you the difference between was is light and what is darkness. Then, He says walk in the light as I am in the light.
You are a part of His story.
Let's take a look at what that looks like. There are two fathers.
Father #1...He tells you the rules of the house. He has them posted everywhere so that you will not forget them. You know the rules and you see the rules every where you go in the house, every day. Does that mean that you will follow the rules? No! Knowing that when you don't follow the rules you will be punished by your father; does that make you follow the rules? No! Can the rules help you when you don't understand how to do something? No! If you go to your father he will tell you that he cannot help you because afterall, you have the rules right there in front of you. That my friends is a picture of the Bible as a book of rules.
Father #2...He tells you that He has come, conquered all of your enemies because He loves you, left you here so that your faith may be tested and at the end of the age, He will return to take you to a place He has prepared for you. But while you are here He will instruct you (The Bible), give you a helper (The Holy Spirit), give you family (The sons and daughters of God), cleanse you, heal you, keep you, test you, go after you when you are lost and have wandered away, open doors, move mountains, break down strongholds in your life, give you peace, send someone and Rest you. Now, that my friends is a picture of the Bible as instruction.
He post the "rules" and sends evangelist to find you, pastors to shephard you, teachers to teach you, family to love and to walk along side of you. If you need wisdom, He will give it to you freely and abundantly if you ask. Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open. The light can not be diminished by the darkness, it consumes it. However, you must be able to tell the difference between the two or you will be deceived and robbed of your most prized possession, your inheritance.
The "rules" are in gray, the back drop but, the instruction is in full color. The manifestion of the instruction in your life, is the power that is created from you knowing the rules and listening to the instruction. It is the Power of God himself.
That being said you must determine in your heart how you see the Bible.
Unless you are in the light, you have chosen, after being let out of slavery to the world (Egypt), to wander in the desert, instead of entering into the Promise Land.The desert is the land of unbelief and darkness.
God has made you promises that can only come to pass if you know what He says and do
what He says.
Not doing because you do not know and not doing because you know and refuse to do, are roads that lead to the same place, unfruitfulness! It's like two people fighting on board of a ship, over who should live on it while the ship is sinking.
Keep an eye out for the next lesson in which we will practice telling the difference.
Lesson #7- Part 3/Light vs. Darkness Practice
Peace
Sonship- Revealing the children of God
Born again- Your new identity as the Beloved
Open your eyes- Light vs darkness
Beholding- How do we live with unveiled faces
My intentions of the first 7 lessons of this blog is to give you an overview of, what in the world is happening. The bible is written (the actual physical writing) by different authors, over thousands of years, in different places in the history of time but, inspired entirely by God. That is the only reason that, given what I just said, the Bible makes sense.
Without God's devine plan it can not make sense. People cannot hold a story in tact over just one afternoon of telling it over and over again, let alone over thousands of years.
God not only inspired it but He also protected it, so that to this very day, us as believers will know what He has done and what He will do. Wow!
I hope that you can see how jealous He is for you. Not as some love crazed boyfriend but as a loving parent who has determined that His children will remain in this God foresaken place until their death or until He himself comes for them.
Why? Because rebellion of the angels in the heavens caused God to decree that all souls must be tested. Your faith is being tested here on this earth and it is worth more than gold to our Father. When you go to heaven all will be said and done. You will have been found to be worthy and righteous through His Son Christ Jesus. Which is His plan.
I like to think of the Bible not just as a book of rules but also as a book of instruction. The two may sound the same but they are not. I can open up a book of rules and know what I should and shouldn't do accordingly but when I open up the book and combine it with instruction, that was written with mercy and grace by a Father who says in it that all of this is being done because He loves me, well then that is an altogether different book!
Used with instruction I now can apply the "rules" to my life and allow the instruction to transform me from glory to glory in the exact image and likeness of Christ. A rule is something to be read for the purpose of gaining knowledge. Instruction is for application.
I can read my driving test booklet and take the test that doesn't mean that I can go out on the road and know how to drive. I have the knowledge yes, but I need the instruction.
I remember right after I took my daughter to the DMV to take her driving test. She past! As we were walking back to the car she motioned for me to give her the keys and made a beeline to the drivers side of the car (even to this day thinking about it makes me laugh). There was no way she was going to drive me home, oh no, not without instruction.
We went out afterwards and I taught her what to look out for. How to guage the actions of the other drivers. Are they distracted and can they see you? Will they cut out from behind you while you are trying to merge on the freeway? What commonly causes accidents, e.g. traffic suddenly coming to a stop and how to see the tell tell signs by watching the brake lights up ahead of you. Yes, in order for her to be a good driver and more importantly to be on my insurance, she had to combine her knowledge of the rules with my instruction.
The Lord wants to teach and instruct you if you are willing, so that you may grow in your knowledge of Him and allow that knowledge to manifest fruit for God in your life. He does that by teaching you the difference between was is light and what is darkness. Then, He says walk in the light as I am in the light.
You are a part of His story.
Let's take a look at what that looks like. There are two fathers.
Father #1...He tells you the rules of the house. He has them posted everywhere so that you will not forget them. You know the rules and you see the rules every where you go in the house, every day. Does that mean that you will follow the rules? No! Knowing that when you don't follow the rules you will be punished by your father; does that make you follow the rules? No! Can the rules help you when you don't understand how to do something? No! If you go to your father he will tell you that he cannot help you because afterall, you have the rules right there in front of you. That my friends is a picture of the Bible as a book of rules.
Father #2...He tells you that He has come, conquered all of your enemies because He loves you, left you here so that your faith may be tested and at the end of the age, He will return to take you to a place He has prepared for you. But while you are here He will instruct you (The Bible), give you a helper (The Holy Spirit), give you family (The sons and daughters of God), cleanse you, heal you, keep you, test you, go after you when you are lost and have wandered away, open doors, move mountains, break down strongholds in your life, give you peace, send someone and Rest you. Now, that my friends is a picture of the Bible as instruction.
He post the "rules" and sends evangelist to find you, pastors to shephard you, teachers to teach you, family to love and to walk along side of you. If you need wisdom, He will give it to you freely and abundantly if you ask. Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open. The light can not be diminished by the darkness, it consumes it. However, you must be able to tell the difference between the two or you will be deceived and robbed of your most prized possession, your inheritance.
The "rules" are in gray, the back drop but, the instruction is in full color. The manifestion of the instruction in your life, is the power that is created from you knowing the rules and listening to the instruction. It is the Power of God himself.
That being said you must determine in your heart how you see the Bible.
Unless you are in the light, you have chosen, after being let out of slavery to the world (Egypt), to wander in the desert, instead of entering into the Promise Land.The desert is the land of unbelief and darkness.
God has made you promises that can only come to pass if you know what He says and do
what He says.
Not doing because you do not know and not doing because you know and refuse to do, are roads that lead to the same place, unfruitfulness! It's like two people fighting on board of a ship, over who should live on it while the ship is sinking.
Keep an eye out for the next lesson in which we will practice telling the difference.
Lesson #7- Part 3/Light vs. Darkness Practice
Peace
