SOUND WISDOM and the CROSS HAS TWO SIDES

Sound wisdom has two sides.
(Job 11:6)
The Two-Edged Sword
The word of God is a two-edged sword. A few examples of this two-edged sword, the two sides of wisdom, are seen in the following scriptures.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace" (Ecc. 3:1-8).
God appointed Jeremiah to " . . . root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:10).
" . . . whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25).
"So the last shall be first, and the first last . . . " (Matthew 20:16).
" . . . he that is least among you all, the same shall be great" (Luke 9:46).
" . . . he that is greatest among you shall be your servant" (Matthew 23:11).
"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in the world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18).
"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 14:11).
When I am weak, then am I strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:10).

In Hebrew and Greek word studies, grief and glory are definitions for the same Hebrew word. Likewise, to bemoan and confess also mean to give thanks and praise. Praise is a result of bemoaning and confessing our sins. Virtue, power and wealth are from the same root word, meaning to writhe in the pain of childbirth, to grieve, sorrow and travail. Again we see the same principle at work. Virtue, power and wealth are birthed out of grief, sorrow and travail. The root word also means hope, rest, trust and to wait patiently.
To inherit or possess also means (to be) consumed and destroyed. Do I need to clarify? When we are consumed and destroyed we inherit and possess.
Forgiveness, mercy, atonement, purging and cleansing are all definitions for the same word.
To be prepared is from a root that means to consume, fail, waste and complete. To be merciful is in the same word as to put to shame. Sin and trespass are in the same word as repent, cleanse, purge, purify and make reconciliation. Each of God's paradoxes are two sides of the same coin. We cannot have one side without the other. This principle is evident in His Word and in His words. We should know that the cross brought death before it brought resurrection.

Psalm 105:19 says,"Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tried him" (NAS). This scripture means that the promise tested him until it was fulfilled! What is meant by this? We can look at all the people in the Hebrew Scriptures whom God gave promises too, to see this played out, Abraham, Joesph ,David , Daniel, Sarah,Mary and etc. were all given promises from God,but until these promises came to pass, the promise tested all of them most severely. Will God do no less with us? Even in all natural births or hatching of eggs, the process is the same, the infant must labor through the narrow gate the birth canal, before they are birthed, the chick must labor and pick away at the shell before it can be hatched. God has not left us without a witness to these things in the natural world, which is only the shadow of the reality of Spirit.We may have been given by the Holy Spirit a promise of healing or prosperity, but we are tested intensely before the promise is made manifest in our lives. We must remember the lessons given to us by the people of faith within the Scriptures that by applying our faith to His promises , we must then believe that He is using our trials that WE WILL ENCOUNTER, to heal, deliver, transform and deliver us. All things are for a reason, and the reason is not that we will go around always being blessed with health and abundance in this life without troubles and without problems, the reason is that these trials will produce the fruits of righteousness in our lives for the Glory of God.

There is always a purpose behind all our trials and sufferings and for the promises, and blessings, which are transformation and growth , the results of these promises and blessings of God are for the reason and purpose in all our lives, which is that Christ be formed in us , which should be the sole purpose and reason for our being.

We must never consider the trials, and sufferings we go through as shameful, but they are in fact blessings. We should never be ashamed that we are going through tough times ,never, for they are always opportunities for our betterment and transformation. We must embrace the cross of Christ, just as we must embrace our own crosses. If we are the children of God, we will not escape His cross nor our own cross, we can only delay its transformative results. Without the cross there would be no personal resurrection in this life and He desires this for ALL of His children! We must remember this as we live out our lives in this world, whether we view the cross as hystory or not, Whether we resent it or not, Whether we resist it or not, Whether we hide from it or not, it is ever present in our lives. Many do not understand that suffering and the trials and tribulations and the crisis we have in our lives IS the cross at work. Once we embrace His cross, We will be able to embrace ours. We must remember that there are 2 sides to His cross, Crucifixion resulting in death, and burial resulting in resurrection!

We don't have to wait until we're dead! to experience the resurrection life of Christ for we are always while we are alive in our bodies going through mini and many deaths, which produces mini and many resurrections in our lives, this the beloved , is good news not bad news!

We are told that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted/tried by the devil. Even Jesus had to go through the wilderness experience, of which we all must go through as well! He experienced our pains, sufferings, trials and temptations, all of them in His Flesh, yes God truly knows what we are going through, because He has experienced them already. How did Jesus handle his wilderness experience? He dealt with them in 2 ways, He spoke the word of God to the tempter and the problems, and in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Hebrews 5:8). We have the same two responses available to us that Jesus did. The word, and our brokenness and realization of our inability to handle the situation on our own, but we come to the point that we realize that it is more than we can do, we need God to do it through us. And the fact of the matter there is no other way around it, but through it, by the will and the help of God's Spirit within us.

Dear Jesus,

Your Word says we are to submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from me. Lord, I want so much to fully submit my will to you,help me to surrender to whatever you choose for my life, help me to desire only your perfect will.Help me to trust in your promises, and help me to be your faithful servant, as was Paul. Help me to understand that it is Your grace which is sufficient for any circumstance I find myself in. Help me to understand that it is not my power but Your power which is always perfected in my weakness. Only then will I be able to boast as Paul did in his weaknesses, may I also be able to boast in my own weaknesses, so that your power may always dwell in me. Lord it is my hope and my intention to be well content with all of my weaknesses, insults, distresses, and what ever persecutions, and difficulties I may have for Your sake. For Lord I am well aware that only when I am weak, then I am strong in you. Lord in all I contend with day in and day out, may it be so that I may know you and the power of your resurrection, the fellowship of your sufferings, being conformed to your death, so that I may attain to our resurrection from death in this life as well as in the world to come. In Your Name and power and your will be done in my life,I pray, to you ,Jesus Christ.

To Satan:
In the all powerful Name of Jesus, and in obedience to the Word of God, Satan, I stand against you. God has my complete cooperation with anything He desires to do in my life, and, Satan, that includes anything He gives you permission to do. But that's where I draw the line. I hold the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the power of the Holy Ghost and the Word of God against you. You can do nothing God doesn't give you permission to do. And whatever you do, Satan, God will use it for my good because I love Him and am called according to His purpose. You are a defeated foe. I tread you under my feet as the dust of the earth. In Jesus' Name. Amen.