Disqualified from the Fading World

Theme Song: Overcome in honor of Mark Porter

¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light. ¹³ For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col 1

Dear Father,
        Thank You for allowing us to be disqualified from the world and for qualifying us to live with You in Your Kingdom. Please help me to remember all of what Your Spirit has revealed concerning the End which is in our sight as we put our hope in You.
In Jesus Christ's Name,
Amen

     God is exhorting and commanding us to number our days so that we may gain hearts of wisdom. He is turning our hearts towards His second coming. He is calling us to readiness, faithfulness, and perseverance. He is calling us to make forceful advances and to zealously labor. Of utmost importance, He is stirring within us intense love and world-shattering faith. In the process of working this mindset into our hearts and minds, He must cut off our earthly attachments. HIS REFINING WORK IS DISQUALIFYING US FROM THE WORLD. But oh, to be found in Him with Christ's righteousness covering us!

Hang-ups: Perspectives that Deserve to be Crucified

     There are certain "hang-ups" that we all have. Most of them qualify us for living in this world under the dominion of darkness. Most of them have an [often indirect] root cause involving the love of money. These hang-ups result in a hardening of our hearts in many areas. They inhibit our love for one another. They inhibit the outpouring of our time and strength. They inhibit our boldness for His Kingdom. There are many lies that we have believed and continue to believe involving the security of our lives and the lives of those dear to us.

     The evil forces take these hang-ups and amplify them before our eyes and command us to worship them with our lifestyles and the attitudes of our heart. The devil screams out day and night "worship the idol of gold and precious stones, of power and comfort, of earthly glory and security, of the traditions of your forefathers and culture...there is no other way for you to survive. You must worship the idol". But we know that we belong to the King of eternal riches and glory.

      Indeed the antichrists that are already in the world would have deceived the elect if it were possible. If they refused to fix their eyes on their King, they would have stumbled beyond recovery. But He will remove these hang-ups. Yes, it will involve fierce refinement.

     No, He does not command us to immediately lose all material things, but He asks us "Do you love me more than these?" He calls for us to have complete faith in Him. He knows that our faith is weak and small...very much so. He is working on our behalf to increase our faith that we may trust in His provision and His Fatherhood over our lives.

Our Deep-Rooted Strongholds

       Our deep-rooted strongholds are not deep-rooted because the devil's head has been crushed under our Savior's Heel. They are quickly removed from us as we turn towards the living God. We are tempted to believe that the removal of our worldliness will involve long battles and horror-filled anguish. But there is a sight of Him that is able to quickly draw us to Him. We would drop our idols in an instant. Oh, seek Him dear saint! Press on in the secret prayer which is known to only you and the Father. You will find Him there. "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see My glory".

He is pouring out His Spirit to all those whom He has chosen and called!

The Double-edged Sword

    We must be pierced by His Word that our hearts may be circumcised. There is a great need to come to His Word with great faith and great fear of the Author. The study of the Word of God without the power and conviction of the Spirit is idolatry. We must read His Words with a zeal to know Him and to see Him.

     Why do we struggle with apathy and boredom, joylessness and sinful addiction? It is because we have not seen Him. We have not looked for Him with all of our heart. He longs for our zealous longing for Him. He cannot tolerate our lack of emotion. He will surely cut off all those who have not been wholeheartedly committed to Him.

The Seed Sown Among the Rocks and Weeds

     Jesus warns us by giving us the examples of the seed that fell on the rocks and weeds. In both places, the seed, the Word of God, brought forth life. But ultimately the pleasures or persecutions of the world brought destruction. I ask God:

 "I have never seen someone receive Your Word with joy and fall away. If there were someone who actually received Your Word with joy, I would feel very optimistic and believe wholeheartedly that they were Your own. If they fell away, I would believe that You are faithful to complete the work that You had started in them. But when I read this parable, it sounds like people can turn away. It appears that You may allow some people who at some point received you to eternally fall away. But who is there to remove the rocks and weeds but You, my Father, the powerful Gardener and Harvester? I know that I have rocks and weeds all around my own root, Father. And then I read in Romans 1 and elsewhere that You are able to give men over to the evil desires of their hearts. You give men over to powerful delusions. You harden the heart of men. If we refuse to repent of those hard parts within our being, You are able to harden our hearts eternally. And yet You Yourself hold me for the Day of Redemption. That has been my only hope...my only way for escape. My Father, how can it be that You, the Sovereign One, would let some fall away eternally?"

DEAR CHILD
¹¹ Here is a trustworthy saying:
   If we died with Him,
   we will also live with Him;
¹² if we endure,
   we will also reign with Him.
If we disown Him,
   He will also disown us;
¹³ if we are faithless,
   He will remain faithful,
   for He cannot disown Himself. 2 Tim 2

His own cannot disown Him nor will He disown us for He has treated us as His own Self. Their source of life is in Him. He is their wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and eternal redemption.

What Does this Food Do?

     He has given us His precious promises in His Word and His unfailing love. He tells us to put His Word and our lives on display since men ought to regard us as servants of God on behalf of His Gospel.

     Our fear has prevented us from sharing His Word, though the harvest has been ripe and ready for harvest. We thought that our lives were not fit for display, not realizing that indeed His righteousness would shine to cover our mared and shameful lives.

     As we deliver His Words to the lost in the world and as we live among them, we will discover the life-changing, world-shattering, glory-revealing nature of His Food which we have been keeping to ourselves. We will not know what His Food does until we give it to His sheep (many of whom have yet to join our fold) and watch His transformation in all of our lives. The sower and reaper are glad together.

Families for the Kingdom

Rather than using His training to perfect our families, His intention is to use our families to build His Kingdom.

²⁶ Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are. ²⁷ Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
 ²⁹ What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰ those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; ³¹ those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Cor 7

     He is building His true Kingdom and our families exist for that end. The true fathers who follow Christ will realize this and put the Kingdom of God above the earthly comfort and security of their families. With regard to the recommendation to virgins, I have prayed something like "Father, please let me get married. We will not get distracted from Your Kingdom, but we will serve You together as a son and daughter of Your Kingdom. As it is Your revelation of the souls of many men has made me feel disqualified from the "game" of romance and marriage..." His Sovereign will for all His children is good. God does not exist to perfect our families and marriages. Our families and marriages exist only for His glory. Here are two noteworthy examples:

1. The husband may try to please his wife so that she will be happy. He gives in to her worldliness and desires for earthly entertainment. He is afraid to rebuke her in love for her ungodly temperaments because she will refuse to show him love for a week...judge for yourselves whose Kingdom you are on to refrain from seeking for the Father's daughter's eternal righteousness though it may be temporarily painful for both of you.

2. The wife submits to her husband in everything without clear insight into his soul nor unconditional AGAPE for him. She herself has deceived herself into self-righteousness in her submission and refuses to pursue true righteousness in and the sanctification of her husband. Surely the women of God have learned by now that they are able to lead their husbands by following them and bringing to the forefront those very Spirit-led acts and inclinations from the husband's life. But in the name of submission many women have refused to work zealously on behalf of her husbands soul and against the lingering evil and strongholds! There are two evils: one) a lack of submission and/or respect, two) a lack of insight into the Word of God and her husbands soul in the Light of His Word. Both are signs of lovelessness and disrespect in the wife. A woman of God will wisely assess her husband's soul and gently and quietly draw Him to the right path. An apathetic ignorant submissive wife digs her husband's spiritual grave. She needs her heavenly Father's wisdom and direction to do this. She must see His glory herself first. She must know His Words and hold them so very dear.

Intense Love

     As we sense the Day of Redemption drawing near, God unifies the hearts of His people. They will have nothing else to hope for or long for in this world. All of the distractions are the world are falling away from them and the purpose of the heavenly Kingdom increases in each of their hearts. Their love for their Lover increases within each of them. All earthly inhibitions and social classifications are cast away as the tents that we dwell in are sealed for destruction and disqualified from immortality.

Steps of Faith Which Have no Return

     The elect are learning that every step not walked in faith, with eyes on the heavenly Master and complete dependence on Him, are worthy of condemnation. Their steps, big and small, will be characterized by faith. Their strides cannot be back-walked. These steps have no return because the saints have overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their Testimony.

Mark Porter has Seen the Glory of God!

     Mr. Porter, the superintendant of school district 833, has seen glimpses of the glory of God. God has allowed him to go through the trial of having his contract renewal unjustly voted against by the school board. I knew Mr. Porter personally from BSF. I used to go to BSF in my first 2 years at the UMN (I could still go to the High School group with my dad). Most of the other highschoolers' dads would walk with them to their classes, but dad was a leader so he had a leader's meeting before our class. Mr. Porter used to stand at the door and greet all the men who came. He would walk with me to my classroom almost every week since dad could not and was very kind to me. He serves as the Teaching Leader for the BSF men's group.

     Dad told us about his trial with the school board last month and I have been praying for him. God confirmed that He has revealing Himself greatly to Mr. Porter and strengthening his soul enormously. What dad has told me confirms this. May God vigorously defend the cause of His righteous saint! May God bring him into the Light that his enemies may be put to shame, but that the Name of the Lord will be praised and kept in high honor. Mr. Porter is achieving glory, honor, and immortality as His Father raises him up in Christ. There is only righteousness, worthiness, honor, and love that awaits him. The "Mark" of the King is certainly on him forever.

JUSTICE WILL AGAIN BE FOUNDED ON RIGHTEOUSNESS!

When Disaster Comes

Dear Father,
     Thank You that "when disaster comes to a city" it is You who has caused it (Amos 3:6). I have heard of Your deeds. Please renew them in our time and in Your wrath remember mercy. Will I repeat here what You have already had me write before? Help me to do Your will and please show Your glory to Your people!
In Jesus Christ's Name,
Amen


Theme Song: You are our Hope

¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. Deut 8


       Dear family, we are in the midst of a vast and dreadful desert. 

     This desert is vast due to the many kinds of evil and darkness around us. The desert is vast due to the legions of evil spirits that plague the hearts and minds of those around us. Without Spiritual sight given to us from above, this vastness appears to be endless in every direction. 

¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.Eph 4

     This desert is dreadful because the Lord of hosts has pronounced His judgment upon our land. No, not only the land of America, but He has pronouned judgment on the inhabitants of this entire world. 

 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land.Amos 7:4

This land is thirsty and waterless because the inhabitants have done two things:

¹³ “My people have committed two sins: 

They have forsaken Me, 
   the Spring of living water, 
and have dug their own cisterns, 
   broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jer 2

This land is thirsty and waterless because the inhabitants are under a famine of the Word of God.

¹¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, 
   “when I will send a famine through the land— 
not a famine of food or a thirst for water, 
   but a famine of hearing the Words of the LORD. 
¹² Men will stagger from sea to sea 
   and wander from north to east, 
searching for the Word of the LORD, 
   but they will not find It. Amos 8

The snakes and scorpions are the principalities, evil forces, demons, false doctrines, and the spirits who "masquerade as angels of light". We know that those who are in Christ are not harmed by these.

Have we not felt it? Have we not known the endless cruelty of the waning rule of the evil one who sets himself up against our glorious God? Are you not undergoing certain events in your life which are as to you: a dark valley and an endless desert? 

His message to us is that He Himself is causing these disasters in our lives. He knows the disasters in your life and He Himself has surely caused them. 

⁷ Therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says:

   “See, I will refine and test them,
   for what else can I do 

   because of the sin of My people? Jer 9

     He has caused them because it is only when we are in this desert that we receive His Living Water from the Rock and His Manna from Heaven. We have never known this Food and Drink. We have never tasted them. But He has brought us here that we may be humbled and that we may taste Him. His heart's desire and plan, which will certainly come to pass, is that it may go well with us in the end. 

His message to us is to wait and to watch for His movement on our behalf. Every disaster that comes your way is a blessing and a chance TO TASTE HIM.

²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for His compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for Him.”

 ²⁵ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him,
   to the one who seeks Him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
   for the salvation of the LORD. Lam 3

     He is going to cause us to experience many disasters, and He is going to show us His glory through giving us Living Water and Manna that we have never tasted before. Through the Spirit you have put your faith in this Food and Drink, yet we know that we have tasted so little of them to this day. Expect calamity and yet eagerly await what comes from His Hand. 

 ¹⁴ “Therefore I am now going to allure her; 
   I will lead her into the desert 

   and speak tenderly to her. Hos 2

     For what comes from His Hand will reveal His glory to us. We will then know that there is nothing else that satisfies and we will worship Him with all of our heart and soul. 

     Do we see how good it is for us to see the glory of God? Visions of the glory of God are so essential, so necessary for us to love and obey Him. His inspiration of our hearts is so vital for the prevention of our backsliding. If we cannot see His glory, we can never understand this path that we travel or the One whom we so eagerly seek. When will He reveal His glory? Surely the Father will willingly pour out the Spirit on those who have faith. He commands us to seek Him and press on to acknowledge Him. He reveals Himself to the one who seeks Him with all his heart.


¹ “Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
   but He will heal us;
He has injured us
   but He will bind up our wounds.
² After two days He will revive us;
   on the third day He will restore us,
   that we may live in His presence.
³ Let us acknowledge the LORD;
   let us press on to acknowledge Him.
As surely as the sun rises,
   He will appear;
He will come to us like the winter rains,
   like the spring rains that water the earth.”Hos 6


     He will truly reveal Himself. What else do you desire? The smallest revelation of His glory will change us entirely. And apart from the revelation of His glory, we could never know Him or desire Him. Do we not cling to Him because something of His Words of Life or His comfort and fellowship had captured some part of us that could never let go of Him? We need to be absolutely still.There are some who have found Him and they could sing praises and hymns to Him as they were tortured, beaten, and led to the gallows. They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer for the Lamb. How can we know His great worth if we cannot see our great need in the face of our great worthlessness? We have to see our great need! We must see it clearly, however gruesome and horrifying it will seem to us. He will do whatever it takes to reveal His life-changing and Life-bringing glory to us.



¹⁶ I heard and my heart pounded,
   my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
   and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
   to come on the nation invading us.
¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
   and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
   and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
   and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
   I will be joyful in God my Savior.
 ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
   He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   He enables me to go on the heights. Hab 3


Outcomes of Seeing His Glory: from my perspective


I have seen a few glimpses of the glory of God in the recent weeks. They did not come after I spent hours praying or after spending all day in the Word. They did not come after a prolonged period of purity in my heart (As though my own righteousness paved the way for Him). They did not come when I expected them. Here were the characteristics that I remember from these instances:


1. I was silenced and awed. Normally my mind and heart are very active (though I am known by family and friends as peacefully gloomy and quiet in the recent month), and I am weighing the souls of others and myself. But when I saw His glory, my mind was stopped and yet at the same time confusion was washed away. It was as though the glimpse of complete understanding of Him removed my need to think or ponder or even feel.


2. Nothing was even remotely offensive or irritating to me. It was as though I was set free from the feeling of irritation in the flesh that is caused by various nuisances or words by others around me. It was as though my mind and body were elsewhere and I could no longer succumb to the thoughts of the futile mind.


3. Everything brought tears to my eyes. Every image of another person whom I love, every story someone shared with me, every email I read, every thought I had, reminded me of God's goodness and God's ultimate plan. 


4. I had love for people that I could never contrive. I have tried so hard on my own to AGAPE my family and people around me, but I usually feel like I can never do it. I always end up losing physical strength or needing to be alone very quickly. But after these instances, God gave a love for His people that was so closely tied to His concurrent revelation of the souls of others. I cannot read minds and hearts of people, but when I had recently seen His glory, the souls of men and women are laid bare before my eyes. When He reveals a soul, He never fails to give Agape to the one whom He reveals it to. A single sight of a redeemed soul changes the perspective completely.


5. God's Word comes alive. Reading His Word is enlightened with images of His love and splendor. Every Word and phrase fits in to the granted better understanding of His will and ultimate plan.


6. I no longer sought the love of man (which is perhaps my only human desire remaining in addition to physical comfort). I understood that everything apart from Him was corrupt and I no longer sought this as something to marvel at. I was ravished by His Great Gospel and knew I had to give what He gave me to others.


7. I understood His Gospel more clearly and His Words of Life came freely to me to deliver to others. Understanding of the Life given to us in Christ filled me with a hope and longing for heaven that I sadly do not consistently have.


8. I wanted more. I knew that I needed to see Him again and again in order to survive. I wondered how I could live most of my life without seeing Him in this way. My longing for Him increased.

Dear family, this knowledge of His glory seems like some kind of positive feedback mechanism. The more we see, the more we long for and desire Him. The more we lose sight of Him and fail to seek Him and His Word, the less we long for and desire Him.


Closing Song: Take Heart

Glorification Through Our Salvation and Pleasure

The Shelter, Refuge, Streams, and Shadow Man Who Unifies

¹ See, a king will reign in righteousness 
   and rulers will rule with justice. 
² Each man will be like a shelter from the wind 
   and a refuge from the storm, 
like streams of water in the desert 
   and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.Is 32


Theme Song: Behold our God 


Dear Father,
     I praise You that there is a message regarding our relationship with fellow believers in these verses. You in us and we in You...we are able to portray Christ in us to each other and so be strengthened and encouraged to find you in our Spiritual family. Help me to abide in Your Words and not stray from Them.
In Jesus Christ,
Amen


     There is a marvelous blessing that the Father has bestowed to His children: He has given us one another. This blessing is tasted as we find in each other, Jesus Christ: the Hope of Glory. 


Surely the King of Righteousness reigns among the hearts of His beloved and He is to them a Shelter, Refuge. Stream, and Shadow.


He is our Shelter


      He is a Shelter from the heat of the day: the "fiery darts of the evil one", the "breath of the ruthless which is as a storm driving against the wall", from the "wind and the waves", and from the "pestilence that stalks in the darkness". Surely the Name of the Lord is a strong Tower to which the righteous may run and be saved.


⁵ Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. ⁶ It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.Is 4:6

He is our Refuge

     His place of Refuge is found in the Eternal Arms which are our strength each morning. Surely when the toils and sorrows of the morning darkness fall upon us, His arm of salvation is extended in love that we may cling to It and ever be renewed and strengthened as He feeds us with His daily Bread. We are as the fugitive scape goat traveling far outside the city of this world and rather suffering with Christ outside the camp, bearing the disgrace that He bore. He is our refuge, yes, even then, He is our place of peace and safety. No enemy can come near the beloved for they are ever hidden in Him

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ‘Destroy him!’Deut 33:27

He is our "Streams of Water"

     He is to us Streams of Living Water from which we may drink and never thirst again. He brings streams out of the dessert ground and gives life to our soul even as our mortal bodies falter and fail. There is no true Fountain apart from Him and in Him may all our fountains be. "There is a river whose streams make glad the City of God, the Holy Place where the Most High dwells". His streams come to us in the dessert as we are parched and know no other flowing source but Him. These streams are as glorious comfort flowing from the throne, as a rushing river which dissolves whatever hardness remains in us, and as filling of the Spirit which results in the bearing of His good fruit.

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as^[c] the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7

He is our Shadow

     He hides us from the fowler's snare and from the heat of the evil outcry rising from the earth. He hides us under the "shadow of His wings" and in the "cleft of the  Rock". He puts His Words in our mouths and brings us to the place of abundance. When in the midst of fires, His Hand lies over us that He may be our Shadow. Even as we walk in His light, the shadow that we reflect is Christ and brings glory to the risen One rather than to any earthly being. We reflect Christ as we abide in His shadow and are not burned through the refining fires that He places in our path. 

¹⁶ I have put my words in your mouth 
   and covered you with the shadow of my hand— 
I who set the heavens in place, 
   who laid the foundations of the earth, 
   and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”Is 51

      There are so many times, dear family, when we have grieved the Spirit by whom we are sealed for the Day of Redemption. We have grieved Him by refusing to be led by His gentle whisper, but rather "fled on horses" each in our own direction. The conscious abiding in Christ is a way of life, humble and narrow, that we rarely find ourselves in. It is not even an isolated life-changing event, but rather a life-changing event that changes our perspective towards every task laid before us, large or menial. His filling changes our perspectives towards each soul whom we encounter. We no longer only regard their mortal body and mind, but we regard their souls, lost or found, and His filling should give us a love and compassion. The humility that His Spirit brings to us will shield us from the offenses of the world, great or minor. No longer do we succumb to irritation, anger, jealousy, hopelessness, despair or even fleshly pleasure, useless speaking, and earthly entertainment. His filling of the Spirit is a circumcision of the heart, done not in the flesh by the hands of men, but done in the Spirit resulting in a new heart and a new mind. 

     As the Spirit goes about His circumcising sanctifying work, God has given us a great blessing that we ought never to neglect but that I (and many of us) have overseen. This blessing is the knowledge of Christ and all of His blessings through one another. 

²⁵ Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.Heb 10

     Jesus has given us His Word concerning His relationship towards all of His flock. As we are brought to dwell in Him more and more through the Spirit, the same path of the soul is occurring in other believers. Surely we are all on this path of being in Him more and more. As we are brought to Him, His glory is bestowed upon us. It is the very glory of God imparted to His beloved by which we are made one with each another. It is not the glory of any man or any leader that unifies the people of God, but rather the glory of God Himself. This glory brings His people to complete unity. THIS UNITY IS WHAT PORTRAYS TO THE WORLD THAT THE FATHER SENT THE SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. And herein lies the importance of our understanding of His Words. As we are brought to Him, His glory is imparted to us. This glory WILL unify us, and the world will see our unity as a sign. This sign will be clearer to them than the miracles of the sick being healed, the physical resurrection of human beings, and the long awaited voices from heaven. The unity of God's people is a symbol to the world of the love of God for them. God has loved the world in the way that He has loved His own sinless Son, Jesus Christ. Why does God impart His glory to us? He imparts His glory to us because He has loved us as His children.

 ²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³ I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

   ²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.John 17

     As we are brought to Him, He will be to us a Shelter, Refuge, Stream, and Shadow. As we hide in Christ, He will impart to us glory and power to do the work of the Father just as His food was to do the Work of the Father. 

³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your^[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.Col 3

     Thus we are no longer our fleshly selves, though the flesh wages war against us. Our flesh has been destroyed. Our lives are hidden so that Christ may be glorified in us and among us. As Christ is glorified in us, our lives will portray the attributes  of God. Our lives will display the Shelter, the Refuge, the Stream, and the Shadow of Jesus Christ. Our bodies become the temples of the holy Spirit where His glory dwells. As we portray Christ in this way, we will be drawn to one another in the same way that we are drawn to Christ. But the condition is that we must portray Christ in this way as we die to self and abide in the Words of God. The only way in which we will be unified is if the glory of God manifested in the Shelter, Refuge, Stream, and Shadow of Christ are revealed from our lives. Every glory of man broken down from us and every glory of the Father imparted to us will make our lives as beacons and fortresses for our Christian family. YOU FIGHT NOT ONLY FOR YOURSELVES BUT FOR THE JOY OF THE BRETHREN. 

²⁴ Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.2 Cor 1:24

     There is a miraculous work that the Spirit has done in the regenerate, to cause them to hear the Shepherds voice and to listen to His Words. As you speak the Words of God, the true sheep will hear. They will hear with trembling humility. Surely there are short periods of time when the sheep are led astray and fail to heed His voice, but it may be that Your words from the Father will bring back the straying sheep to His only Good Shepherd. You have the Holy Spirit's residence in the regenerate soul on your side. 

³ The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”John 10

     Why do we teach the commands and the laws of God as though we were able to simply hear and obey? We teach them because the true sheep will hear and obey by the power of the Spirit of Christ. "His commands are no longer burdensome for he who is born of God has overcome the world". 

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.Deut 30

    For all of the people of God have been given the Words of the God, Jesus Himself, to dwell in their mouths and hearts, through the Spirit, that they may obey Them. 

³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
   after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
   and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
   and they will be my people.
³⁴ No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
   or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
   from the least of them to the greatest,”
            declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
   and will remember their sins no more.”Jer 31

      The conclusion of this writing is that we will all know Him and He has blessed us to know Him through each other. He brings us to Himself. He bestows His glory on us because He loves us. This glory of God in us is shown through the blessings of Christ (His Shelter, Refuge, Stream and Shadow) and unites us. This unity is a symbol to the world of God's love for them. As we speak God's Words to one another, the righteous ones will hear and obey. 

This link is for a blessed painting of "The Broad and Narrow Way": 

Scriptures are in German but you can figure them out. 

Love Travels Only the Forgiveness-paved Road

He who covers over an offense promotes love, 
   but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Prov 17:9

Theme Song: Psalm 130 Out of the Depths

Dear Father,

     You told me that the message for us is that the only way that we can love (AGAPE) people is to forgive them in Your strength. It is a mystery, again, and if I describe this incorrectly, I would be distorting Your Doctrine and Wisdom with my words. So let my Words be from You. Please help me, Father!
In Jesus Christ's Name, Amen

 I am writing this in a sort of unorganized way, but in the order that thoughts occur in my mind and I am praying that you will follow this and understand; you will understand.


     The only way that we can love the sons of men with the Agape of the Father is to forgive them. At first thought we think of the verse above which states that to cover over an offense promotes love. Another verse, Prov 19:11 states that it is to a man's glory to overlook an offense. I (and perhaps you) are tempted to think that these verses mean that we must be so childlike and pure that we do not see the evil in others which in some cases is directed towards us. Others of us think, "Everyone is good to me. There is no one in my life that I need to forgive. I am blessed!".

     Take a man, a stranger, that you meet somewhere and the Holy Spirit prompts you to go and preach the Gospel to him. Consider His voice also telling you as you approach him, "You cannot love him unless you forgive him". And you reply, "Father, I do not know this man. He has not wronged me. He is innocent in my eyes until proven guilty". And God still tells you, "You must forgive him. You know that he is a sinner. You must forgive him in My strength before you can show him My love."

?!?!


“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.Luke 6:37

     Consider another scenario. You meet a stranger in church. This stranger is homeless and pitiful and explains his difficulty to you. You do not know him but you are filled with compassion and love for him. You tell him, "You can certainly stay in our home. We have an extra room and I am sure that my family will welcome you. Please come and stay with us, dear one, for you need to know the love of Christ. We will show it to you. Come and stay with us!" He moves in with you and you show him lots of love on the first couple days. After that, you start to notice that he is kind of loud. Then you realize that he keeps the house kind of messy. Then you see him yelling at your children. He starts to take your love for granted. HOW DO YOU RESPOND? You cannot love him as before. You wish that he would find somewhere else to stay and start to ask others if they have extra rooms in their homes. You realize that you really do not feel any love at all for this man, but only irritation. You ask yourself, "Did I ever love this man with AGAPE?". NO, you had loved him with storge and/or phileo, but when the time of testing came, you could not forgive, and you were left with only resentment. If you are led by the Spirit, you will cry out to God to remind you of His love and forgiveness. He will grant you the power to forgive and love this man in spite of his faults. Only now, after you have forgiven him, you have loved him with AGAPE.

 On the contrary:

   “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
   if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”Rom 12:20

      Going back to the example of the man that you are called to share the Gospel with: this man is never going to stay at your home and you will never have a chance to be irritated with his shortcomings. But nevertheless, within the 15 minutes conversation in which you share the Gospel, the Holy Spirit calls you to initially forgive him before you can share the Gospel in love.

      We question God asking, "If I have to forgive everyone before I can love them, then I am going to have to know what to forgive: the sin in people. If I am thinking about people's sin all the time, then I am going to have bad perspectives of everyone. Am I not called to think highly of others and not ponder on their shortcomings?"

And God replies with Is. 5:20:


"Woe to those who call evil good 
   and good evil, 
who put darkness for light 
   and light for darkness, 
who put bitter for sweet 
   and sweet for bitter.

and He replies with John 3:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

     "But God, how can I love people when I know their sin. To love people, I need to have a very high view of them. I need to think of them as noble and virtuous and Godly. I need to think of them as innocent and without guile. How could acknowledging their sin pave the way for Your love to flow through me? It feels as  though I could never love them with AGAPE if I can see all of their sin right at the forefront."

    And here is the crux of this mystery, dear family: when we truly understand salvation and the essence of what God has done for humanity, two things will most certainly occur and become increasingly clear to us as we are conformed to His image:

1.  WE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE HIS HOLINESS AND LOVING FORGIVENESS

     We will see the holiness of God and be like the prophet Isaiah (ch. 6). We will realize that our lips are unclean and that we live among a people of unclean lips. We will cry out "Woe to me for I am ruined!"  Our view of God will become greater and our view of mankind will become lesser. But the view of God's greatness will surpass the temptation of hopelessness and despair at sin in and around us (I have only realized this very recently). As we come to Christ, He takes the coal and touches our lips so that we may be clean. God puts the righteous robe of Christ around us. 

¹ Blessed is he
   whose transgressions are forgiven,
   whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the man
   whose sin the LORD does not count against him
   and in whose spirit is no deceit.Ps 32

     The forgiveness of God in the face of His holiness will become a refuge and a strong tower. Seeing the Light of His Face will make us very aware of the darkness in the world and in our flesh. As we receive Him and as He reveals His glory and forgiveness to us, a deeper and more gruesome view of sin is given to us. As He bestows His forgiveness in Christ, we will have an even greater LOVE FOR GOD. Certainly God is righteous and there is nothing wrong in Him that anyone should need to forgive Him. And as He forgives our sin which has become ever-increasingly distasteful to us, our love for Him will continue to increase. BUT AGAIN, THE JOY, GRATEFULNESS, AND LOVE TOWARDS HIM THAT HE PUTS IN US IS GREATER IN INTENSITY THAN THE INTENSITY OF THE SORROW OVER SIN. 

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,^[b] God made you^[c] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.Col 2

2. OUR LOVE WILL INCREASE TOWARDS THE SONS OF MEN. 

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Rom 13:8

     We will certainly see the sin in others as we see God's holiness. As Isaiah declared "I live among a people of unclean lips" and David declared "When I speak I am for peace, but they are for war" and "there is none righteous, not even one" and Solomon declared "I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all" (? :) )  and Daniel prayed "O LORD, we and our kings, our princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned against you"

.... 

     Godly people are very aware of the sin of all men. But they are also filled with an even greater view of God in the face of their own sin. I must also state that this high view of God given to us, He removes from us the comparisons between men that are made with regard to morality so that "no flesh may boast in His sight". Not only does the sight of God's holiness remove from us any inclination to exalt one man over another, but we will be able to forgive any wrong done to us. When we see the weight of our own sin removed, no sin committed again us is too big for us to forgive as we abide in Christ. IF WE CANNOT FORGIVE, WE HAVE NOT KNOWN HIS FORGIVENESS. 

 ³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

   ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”Matt 18

    

     When we think about forgiving others, we usually think about greater offenses (and certainly each of our views of what comprises a "great offense" differ). But God speaks of a "continuing debt of loving one another". It would not be just for us to forgive great offenses, but refuse to forgive the lesser offenses. Rather Christ says that:

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’Matt 25:21

     Personally it has been easier to forgive those who have committed greater offenses than to forgive for example subtle hidden slanted words or minor irritations. The debt of love that is given to us as we receive Christ's forgiveness allows us to continually forgive others. Our forgiveness is not only continual, but it is continuous as we abide in Christ continuously. It does not ignore sin or fail to acknowledge sin, for certainly all of the gifts of the Father (including forgiveness) come from the Father of Lights with whom there is no darkness. This forgiveness is not contrived, but flows out from the love of God within us. It does not waver, but humbly and willingly perseveres and submits. It keeps on forgiving, MOMENT BY MOMENT. As He gives us this strength to continually forgive, we are able to love with AGAPE.

     Where there is no conviction of sin, there is no perceived need of forgiveness. Where there is no forgiveness, there is no AGAPE.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”Luke 7:47

      Do you see the chains we have gotten onto ourselves to try to ignore our sin and the sin of others?

     We must see all of the sin, and yet see the Savior so much greater. What results is an infinite storehouse of AGAPE and forgiveness for others in spite of a clear view of their sin. This is true love. This is true love. When we see the worst of each other and still forgive and love: this is AGAPE. I am saying these things because they are true, not because I understand how or why they are true or because I have experienced these things more than in a very small way. 

     But this much I know: the people that I love the most with AGAPE are those whom I have seen the worst of and forgiven by His grace. 

     Dear family, it is okay to acknowledge sin in each other, for certainly no one may boast before Him. Yes, our sin is very great, but His forgiveness, love, and glory are exalted and supreme. And we are able to see the new perfect righteous LOVABLE creations of our family in Christ. Our vision of their perfection is by faith through the Spirit. 

⁹ However, as it is written:

   “No eye has seen,
   no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him”—

 ¹⁰ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.I Cor 2

     Going back to the opening verse that states that to cover an offense promotes love, we acknowledge here how sin is covered or atoned for: through love and faithfulness...the love and faithfulness of God the Father in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. 

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
   through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.Prov 16:6

    Ignoring or not identifying sin does not cover it. It hides sin. In this manner, we are also ignoring the atoning sacrifice, love, and faithfulness of Jesus Christ. The way we cover over sin is to say, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" and to "stand in the gap on their behalf before the Father" and to plead that Christ would intercede for them before the Father. The same blood that made atonement for our own sin makes atonement for the sins in others as well.

True Encouragement

     True encouragement involves perceiving the sin of the body of Christ (you do not have to try, but as you see the holiness of God you will simply know what is dark) and exhorting them to turn away from sin, but to always portray the glories and blessings of the Father even more so that they know why they are turning away from sin and to Whom they are turning. And encouragement means exalting those very words, actions, attitudes, etc. that come from the Spirit of Christ in one another. This kind of encouragement does not flatter and it does not increase the ego. But rather we will become increasingly aware of His goodness to us in the form of the good works which He has both prepared for us and enabled us to do as we made our abode in Him. 

With regard to the remaining sin in each other, God has been teaching me to "Wait for Him more than watchmen wait for the morning". Hence the theme song. 

Prayer Request:

     I am defending my Master's thesis tomorrow (Tues, Dec 20th) and would be grateful for prayer for me to bring glory to God, that the committee would see Christ in me. And if you pray that I pass, that would be good too. 

     Another prayer request is for my lab people to trust in Jesus. This has been my insatiable anguish for the last couple weeks (and sort of months)...as though my heart existed only to plead their case before God. I will be leaving them by the end of this month. I am praying about writing Christmas cards to some of them completely pouring out my heart to them about Christ (I have done this several times in person). I do not care if I sound like an emotional mother or something like that. May God bless them and keep them, make His face shine upon them and be gracious to them. May He turn His Face towards them and give them peace. 


We are going to see Anand and Prasanna for Christmas! I am most likely continuing under another adviser after that for the phd unless God shows me something else. And I am still praying/waiting for God to inspire His man to come find me!