TRUE FAITH

Cutzu in Alabama picture taken,while in truck.

Jesus went to the cross, spirit,soul and body, to redeem us, spirit,soul and body. Therefore the CROSS is the center of the plan of salvation for man,spirit, soul and body.
Before we can have a steadfast faith for the salvation of our spirit,soul and body we must be rid of all uncertainty concerning God's will in the matter. Appropriating faith cannot go beyond one's knowledge of the revealed WILL OF GOD. Before attempting to exercise faith for salvation, or healing one needs to know what the Scriptures plainly teach, that it is just as much God's will to heal the body as it is to heal the soul.Until we know God's will there is nothing on which we can base our faith on.Faith for the  appropriation of God's promised blessings is the result of knowing and acting on Gods WORD. Rom.10:17 . The word of God is SEED, the seed of Divine Life. So in order to know that we can be saved and healed it is necessary for the SEED to be planted in our minds and heart. It is not planted until it is known and received and trusted. The SEED of God's Word must be planted  and kept watered  before it can produce its harvest.Instead of asking someone to pray for you , one should first ask that they be taught Gods WORD, so that they can intelligently cooperate for their own recovery. We must know what the benefits of Calvary are before we can appropriate them by faith. A living Church is the body of Christ, it is the LIVING CHRIST which lives and walks, doing through its members what He did in the days of HIS FLESH , therefore it must be a healing church as well as a soul saving church.

The first step of healing and/or salvation of our Souls is knowing the will of God in this matter.
God's WORD is the ONLY BASIS FOR OUR FAITH.We miss healing if we allow our symptoms to hinder us from expecting what the HIS WORD promises.
God heals and saves us by sending forth His WORD.

The second step towards healing is that we must be sure that we are right with God. Our redemptive blessings are CONDITIONAL. After we hear the Gospel the Good News, and know what it offers, Jesus says, "REPENT YE AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL". Only those who are right with God can follow these instructions. Until we squarely face  and settles the question of OBEDIENCE to God, we are not  on believing ground.In the letter of James it says that we are to Confess our faults to one another .....that we may be healed. It is God's WILL that we may prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers.If we regard iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not hear us. It is when our hearts do not condemn us that we have confidence toward God. There is something really wrong when we desire the blessing but not the BLESSER. It is never proper to seek HIS MERCY while rejecting His WILL.
The HOLY SPIRIT tells us to submit ourselves to GOD before HE says 'resist the devil' because none of us on our own can successfully resist the devil until we have submitted to GOD.
The promises of GOD are only to the OBEDIENT. It is to those who DELIGHT themselves in the LORD that HE gives the DISIRES OF THEIR HEARTS. Ps. 37:4.
GOD has not lowered HIS standard for the DAY OF GRACE.
In this day of ours we believe that we can follow God and receive all His promises without conditions and without obedience.
FAITH is a union of  our hearts and wills with GOD'S will and purposes, NOT  the other way around. This is a primary Spiritual Law , and sadly in this day and age we have been woefully blind to. GOD says , upon fearing the LORD and departing from evil, It shall be health /medicine to thy navel and marrow /moistening to thy bones."Pro.3:7,8
We must remember that FAITH always implies OBEDIENCE.
So when we come to God before seeking anything from Him we should yield ourselves to the first and great commandment which is that we are to Love the Lord our God with all our heart. God says, " Because He hath set His love upon me therefore will I deliver then.: Ps. 91:14. He keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and KEEP HIS commandments ..Deut. 7:9
Our bodies were bought  with a price; therefore glorify God in our bodies and in our spirit which are Gods in the first place.1 Cor.6:20.
We are to present our bodies to God as a Living sacrifice which is our reasonable service. Rom 12:1
Our union to God is as real as the branch and the vine. All that is in the Vine including both spiritual and physical life, belongs to us the branches. The blessing of being right with God is a thousand times more desirable and enjoyable than the healing itself. We must desire God,for who He is,  the healing is secondary.
The third step on how to appropriate healing is like playing checkers. So when God has provided healing, or any other blessing, and sent His WORD , it is our move before He will move again. Our move is to expect what He promises when we pray. This will cause us to act our Faith BEFORE  we see the healing. The healing comes in the next move which is God's move.God never moves out of turn, but He always moves when it is His turn. Our fallen nature is governed by what it sees, by it's senses. FAITH  is governed by the pure WORD OF GOD , and nothing less than expecting God to do what He promises. We are to EXPECT, not merely to hope.We hope for what may be possible, but we expect what must be possible, with that expectancy that shuts out doubt or fear of failure, and shows unshakable confidence.
Faith never waits to see before it believes .Faith comes by hearing about things yet unseen, faith is the evidence of things not seen.All faith needs is to know that God has spoken, so it is so. Faith always acts first, it's our move, then the next move is Gods. We must not miss the healing waiting on and confining God to a Miracle.Christ's promise is that "they will recover" but that does not necessarily mean instantly. The 'symptoms of life' remain in a tree long after the tree has been cut down.We believe because God's word is already settled.
2000 years ago God put away sin,God laid the iniquity of us all on Christ, Christ took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses, this is all a done deal, God made his move, now we must make ours.But again we must remember, that Christ obeyed God, and we can do no less.
Jesus declared ,'The WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU 'THEY' ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE." John says, 'THE WORD WAS GOD." To receive the written WORDS OF CHRIST as the direct message to us is FAITH.

So while you are still sick, praise Him because you are going to recover according to His promise, with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.
Remember that every sick Christian has more to be thankful for than a cheerful and well sinner!
IT IS WRITTEN , IT IS WRITTEN , IT IS WRITTEN,  that is how Jesus Christ  won his battle over Satan, and it is the only way we will too.This was how Jesus did it, this was his only way, it is the most successful way of resisting the lies of the devil.
We have no more reason to doubt than we did when we were sinners and repented and asked for forgiveness of our sins.

Looking unto the promise of God we must wax strong in faith being full persuaded, absolutely certain that God has fulfilled His promises.We do not base our faith on our improvement or lack of improvement, we must not be affected by  our symptoms, or by what we see or don't see, feel or don't feel, our faith must rest on God alone and his WORD.
We must continue to look unto God, we must be occupied not on our symptoms but on God and His WORD.
We must consider that after we come to God for our healing that God finds us more encouraged by our improvement than by His WORD, God may find it necessary to try and test our faith, to teach us the glorious lesson of believing His WORD, when every sense tells us  differently, FAITH HAS TO DO WITH THE WORD OF GOD and nothing else.The test of God is perfecting our faith not destroying it.
One might ask how long will it take? As long as it will take for us to be fully persuaded and learn the lesson of Faith.
To learn how to believe that God hears us when we pray is by far the greater  blessing than our healing itself. Then the prayer of faith can be repeated many times for ourselves and others. In this way our whole life can be spent by obtaining the fulfillment of divine promises.
We must learn that faith is saying and believing what God says, and then acting accordingly. God says through Peter in 2Peter 1:3  that He has ALREADY given us the things that pertain to life and to godliness, this includes all we need for spirit, soul and body for this life and the one to come. He has already given that to us, may we now believe that it is so and thank Him for his rich mercy, love and blessings to us. Remember that we must learn to cease to be anxious about the condition of our body. After you have committed your body and it's healing to the Lord we must know that He has already taken the responsiblity for that healing, we are then to be happy and restful in that matter, we know from His word that  God takes responsiblity for every thing committed to Him. A steadfast faith for what God has revealed to be His will for us is our whole duty.The law of the Spirit of Life which heals our very souls and body is much stronger that the law of sin and death! Remember that sickness, from which we have been redeemed, does not belong to you as a Christian, but Healing does.

Being governed by our natural sight is unscientific because it does not take into account all the facts!!
In closing, we must remember that God wants us all to appropriate the past tenses of His Word regarding His redemption of our souls and our bodies from sin ,sickness and disease. He wants us to go forth in obedience acting as if we believed Him. When God puts a promise  in the past tense, He thus authorizes and expects us to do the same. Nothing short of this is appropriating faith.

So have I obtained all that I have asked for, no, does that make the word of God untrue, no, because as I am learning, faith also requires obedience and so in my own walk, I know that I am not quite there. I am a WORK IN PROGRESS, and I will not come across in this blog as someone who has done all these things and it worked, I know that I have not been obedient in all that I should be, and I am working on this, I am learning by the Spirit what in my life is not in line with God's will, it is a process and I am doing my best to cooperate with God in this area. But if I am to be a Christian I must believe what the word says, and I know that God is still in the healing and salvation business even if many churches tell you differently. I know Jesus heals, then and continues to heal all, just because I have not obtain that healing in no ways makes the Word of God false, I know the blame lies with me and my stubborn nature to hold on to self. May God help me to give all my life to Him, so that I might know Him and love Him and serve Him all the days of my life, amen.

Shalom in Christ.

PRAYER CHANGES US

                 BLOSSOMS OF A ROSE OF SHARON
                                in my garden
"To say that "prayer changes things" is not as close to the truth as saying, "Prayer changes me and then I change things." God has established things so that prayer, on the basis of redemption, changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person’s inner nature." Oswald Chambers

I have heard many 'theories' on just what is prayer and what is it's purpose, especially since God supposedly knows our needs before we ask of Him, then why bother ? But what I am learning is that prayer is vital nutrients and food for our spirits, it is what feeds the God in us which is Christ. I use to think it was through much bible study that did this but I am learning that it is by prayer and communion with our God that feeds our spiritual selves. I am not saying bible study is not necessary but that it is not what feeds our souls, it is our communion with God that does, which is why we need to pray. It is by and through prayer that we begin to know God, and I thought for many years it was right doctrine and lots of bible study that did the trick, now with much bible study under my built I no more know God than when I first began. The bible can and will lead us to God, but communion in prayer will bring us in contact with God and therefore in the process of knowing God...........this is what I desire, and seek. I had pursued spiritual knowledge and understanding through study and  intellectual pursuit, but I was heading no where towards my true goal, that of knowing God. My knowledge of God is achieved by obedience to the light I am given each day, as I walk in that light I gain knowledge and communion with the God of Creation that I seek.
Prayer and obedience go hand in hand, if I am in the spiritual dark about something, there is a good chance that I have not obeyed in some area of my life, and by setting time alone with God in prayer I am more likely to hear what it is I am doing or not doing in my life at that time to cause this darkness in my life.

"Oh that I might know you God, and my Lord Jesus/Yahshua my Messiah, show me how this life in You is all about. Show me you , oh that I might truly know You and the power of your resurrection in me , today!"

A WORK IN PROGRESS

                    A thunderhead in Woodward , Ok
I have started many blogs about my walk in Christ only to delete them after a month or so. Why? because I felt like such a hypocrite, I would write about my true desires and guidance from God only to later feel that  since I was not walking in it successfully that I was painting a false picture. So my last blog entitled ' A WORK IN PROGRESS'  I deleted , but felt lost because I had no place to write what I truly desired in me even if I was not successful at living it. I picked up a 3 month devotional booklet that a local Church had laid at a truck stop, I had seen them there but left them many times,not caring to read what they have to say, but this day there was just one left and I picked it up and took it with me to the bathroom just to read while in there...........you all have done this I know, read in the bathroom!I also read it in private because my husband really does not want me to be a Christian, and honestly most of the time I don't care to be either, because of all my attempts at it were not pretty and all the disappointments,I have difficulty with much of the O.T. and many aspects that I read in the N.T. I have never felt comfortable in the lifestyle that is called 'Christianity', so I wanted to read this booklet without his knowledge (it's not that he is a meany about it, its just that he has been greatly discouraged with Christianity/Churchianity, as well as I, and  he really does not want me  to go through that drama again). Any way as I was reading these words popped up in that particular page I was reading .....'a work in progress' so I thought how strange for that to be in that particular paragraph , it really didn't fit the topic. So I took the little booklet with me. Then about a weeks worth of reading, of which most I didn't care for, I came upon that term again...' a work in progress' and I knew that God was truly speaking to me about my blog status, I was wondering at the time, if whether or not I should try to do it again. You see I travel full time with my husband who is a trucker, I don't drive but I fix all the meals and do the book work and keep him company while he drives. My health has gone down hill over the years with severe arthritis and mobility issues, I can't really stay home by myself anymore. I do not have a church home, and really never had one, I never felt comfortable in one, and being on the road makes having one impossible anyway. My husband is an Agnostic and I have teetered back and forth as one as well over the last many years. The official church and many TV ministries have left us cold in regards to Orthodox Christianity and so we left it . But God will not leave me alone and so I go back and forth in my faith....I never fit well into any 'religious mindset' be it Pagan or Christian.....I am not the strong committed  Christian person that many portray that they are, I am not strong in my faith, and I wish I was. So what I believe God wants out of this blog for me is that it will keep me focused on Him and His life in me as we do this work in progress within me , it will help me stay on track and own up to my actions. This blog will act as the means to keep me focused and centered on Christ. Since I am alone in this faith, a 'misfit as it were' I have no out side contact with others most of the time just me and hubby, I talk to a few truckers now and again and see family not all that often so I am really isolated and so it is just me and God.
 So this blog is that journey that I am on, my ups and downs as I struggle to keep Christ as my focus instead of 'self'. This blog will help keep me honest with my self and with God..........at least that is why I think   I need this space for at the moment.
The struggle to believe in this day of unbelief is so overwhelming, that it is not funny at all. I do not pretend to know the answers to life's difficult questions but I do know God is the source to go to for those answers. I have bounced back and forth from belief to unbelief and I am not happy about that, from Neo Paganism to Liberal, Moderate and fundie Christianity, what I have discovered is that God is real, loving and cares for me, and religions  will stick it to ya. That Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah is real and he did not come to start a new religion, we have enough of them, He came to show us the One true God and How we can know Him as He did and does.............This blog is about that journey of Christ working in me, changing me from within , it is continual and ongoing. It is not about what I do or try to do but what God within me does, in and through me.
It is truly a Work in Progress,
blessings,
patc.

GOD PLEASURE

          A Coleus from my garden


I think one of the problems I  and many others, have with trying to see God is that we don't see God as having the very emotions that He has created in us. To try to visualize just what God is , since He ,being Spirit has been hard for many of us. Can we see God as being a person? Having emotions? How God feels about us, should be understood in the same way that we feel about God. Do we feel love and joy, of course we do, sadness and pain? yes, and we must come to the realization that Our God has these same feelings toward us.

There are more than 100 verses that speak of God being pleased with us or taking pleasure in our obedience. One of them is this: " Do not fear little flock,for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Luke 12:32 NKJV.

Our God feels joy when He is able to give to us the gifts that He longs to lavish upon us. Our obedience is what releases in us His pleasing gifts -the power of His pleasure.

Just how powerful do you think His pleasure in us is? When we believe that we are pleasing God, 2 things happen. First we will feel good about our selves. Second, without our awareness we help change the world for good, through God working in and through us.

Every choice we make either grieves and disappoints ourselves , and God, or it will please us and God. When we are selfish it will grieve us and God.When we live in this constant state of disappointment and grief, we will live powerless lives.But if we live to please and give pleasure to God, we live lives full of the very Power of God in us. We as children of God either give God pleasure or cause Him pain.

We must remember that it is God's Good Pleasure to give us His Kingdom, what a gift that I believe many of us really do not understand. We serve a King and it is HIS Kingdom that He is literally giving to us!!!!

Our obedience to what God tells us we must each do in our own individual lives ,gives immense pleasure to Our God, His pleasure releases His Power within us to do what we are called to do.When our heavenly Parent is pleased, joy is then present and the power of His pleasure is ours.

What is your worth and what is it based on? God wants our worth to be based on the value that God gives to us. How we feel about ourselves can only be based  how God feels about us.God's pleasure gives us a double joy, one is the power to face all things, this power is what allows us to be achievers.Second when we feel that through our achievements God has given us the joy of redeeming His world, we receive our second joy, we become people of confidence, our achievements come from dependency on God which leads to confidence in what we can do through Him.
I think much of the world's ways has been adopted by Christians and that is why most Christians have low self esteem and walk in disappointment and depression. Striving to be number Ono wraps us in a tight package of ourselves.It gives us a false view of life.We come to see  the world and our lives in terms of ourselves, the world exist for our pleasure, our challenges and provide us with much materialism. So we take the bait, we eat it and digest it, but does it ever really satisfy us?Apparently not for most of us, me included here, are so discouraged, and depressed and lack any real and meaningful purpose for even being here in the first place. When we finally get to the place that we realize what we have been doing, and how wrong we have been in the choices we have made, when we come to the end of our 'selves' what then?

Confession is God's gift to us, to help us empty ourselves of self, it pulls the plug on our egos,draining from our lives all that was most toxic which in truth is 'self'.Has the constant focus of our selves on our selves, ever really provided us with the happiness and joy we so desperately crave? NO.You know full well it has not.

In the bible it states twice, when God said that he was well pleased with Jesus/Yahshua, Once at Yahshua's baptism Matthew 3:17 and the other time at the transfiguration in Matthew 17:5. The Father's pleasure in Jesus is what gave Jesus the completed view of who He was and why he was in the world, even at the cross Jesus knew that God was pleased, and his terrible circumstances that He found himself in at the cross was of no importance, than that of  the pleasure His Father had in Him.

Like Jesus, once we know that God takes pleasure in our obedience, little else matters.Our circumstances should never determine how we feel about ourselves. There is great power doing that which is right and our success or our failure is not a part of the equation, when we seek to please God , the bondage of always trying to get ahead is no longer relevant. If we succeed , the glory is God's if we fail, He is pleased when we, get back up and  try again, and when God is pleased there is never no failures. If God is being served , what appears as failure to us, may be in fact the most glorious of successes, remember the Cross, all thought Jesus a failure, but His death turned out for our good, and thank God for that.

So in closing, our self esteem, how we see ourselves , should always be through God's eyes, and how He sees us. When we seek to please God, we know that He sees nothing but pleasure in us. Let us seek His kingdom and all things will be ours.

SHALOM IN CHRIST THE MESSIAH