I have a good friend that asked me how a person can tell if someone is perfect or not. I thought it was a good question and maybe some others might wonder about this also. So I am sending on my response to my friend to all that might be interested.
“How can you identify when someone is perfect?” Good question. Most would not ask this question, because either they think of this as judging someone, or they don’t believe anyone can do this except God, or they are really fearful of knowing the answer.
To think and act perfect before God, a person must live totally by unselfish love. When a person lives by the love of God, they will automatically be holy and righteous. But the terms “unselfish love, holy, and righteous” can be defined in many ways other than by their true godly meanings. So how does perfection really look in a true born-again believer?
The perfected (sanctified/saint/born-again) believer:
Being perfect is when a person loves God with all their heart, soul, mind, body, and strength: Mark 12:30 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. NIV Some might say “I do the second greatest commandment, which is: Mark 12:31 - The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ NIV If I do this second commandment, doesn’t that prove I love God by loving others?” The answer is NO. There are probably many people that think they love God by trying to please and love others the way they would want to be loved, but the way a selfish person wants to be loved is not the way God loves us or the way we need to love God. If anyone switches these two commandments around to be like: Love your neighbor with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love the Lord God as yourself. This is how some people might see how to love God, or what they might end up doing sub-conscientiously. People can easily have some form of a relationship with a real physical person, but how do they have a relationship with a God they can’t see or touch. So people resort to trying to love people instead of God. What does all this have to do with being perfect? Unless we FIRST love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; we cannot truly love others as God loves. If we try to love people without having God as our first love, then we will try to please others instead of giving them what they need. When we love others perfectly, we will help them with what they need and not necessarily with what they want. God’s perfect love doesn’t give people what they want, but instead gives them what they need. A perfect person will be willing to give the other person what they need, even when it might cost their relationship; whether the relationship be a spouse, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, or friend.
A perfect person loves God above everyone and anything else. He/she will please their Father in heaven first, even if that love for God causes problems with others being displeased with them. If anyone is more concerned about pleasing someone else more than God, then their love is not perfect. Anytime anyone loves anything of this world, including people, more than God, then that worldly love will make them desire to please what they love instead of God. God’s perfect love is not about pleasing people, but doing what is best for His glory and their eternity. So a perfect person will have God first in their life, then people second, and then things and money after that.
Jesus tells us how to be perfect:
Matt 19:21 - Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." NIV
To understand God’s priorities of how to be perfect, we must read the sections of the verse above in reverse order. Our first priority is to follow Jesus Christ – “come, follow me.” Our second priority is to take care of people – “give to the poor.” Our last priority in life is to acquire wealth – “sell your possessions.” For most of us, having wealth will get in the way of following Christ. Also for most of us, getting to attached to un-perfected people will get in the way of following Christ – when we end up loving other people more than God.
A perfect person will not sin against God’s will. If any person is knowingly sinning against the good and right will of God, then they are not perfect. For they love someone or something else more than God. Their love for themselves, others, or things are really their God. God commands: Ex 20:3 - You shall have no other gods before me. NIV
A perfect person will not worship anything or anyone else other than God. A lot of people put other people up on a pedestal and worship them as higher than other men. One man is no better than any other man or women. The only one good is God. Any man/women can only be considered good if God is perfectly controlling their life. It is not the man/women that has any good value of their own, but only the good of God living in them. To be perfect, a person must consider themselves worth nothing and God worth everything.
A perfect person will always love what God loves and hate what God hates. They will hate evil (selfishness) and always love what is good and perfect. They will hate the sin of a person, but love the sinful person.
A perfect person will have no damming anger for another, but will always return good for evil.
A perfect person will always value the person and not the sex of the other person. Their sexual tendencies will always be overridden by the value they place on the other person. The pure love that a perfect person has, will always value the other person over their own sexual desires.
A perfect person will value other people and the other person’s possessions and not envy what the other person has. If anyone envies other peoples possessions, then they still are selfish and not perfect. The only thing a perfect person needs or wants is God Himself.
A perfect person never steals. Anyone that steals, even for food to eat, is not depending on God for all their needs. God is all we need and He will supply all our needs.
A perfect person never lies. Not even a little white lie. Perfection has nothing to hide. Anyone that lies is still of the devil’s spirit.
A perfect person fears nothing, for he/she knows God is in control of all things. If anyone fears anything, then they have not been made perfect yet. 1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. NIV We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but after fully being made perfect by the fullness of God’s love, there is no longer any need to fear. A perfect person no longer has to fear God, because they have been made perfectly in Christ’s image (love) and have become one in Spirit with God. If a person is one in Spirit with God, then fear is gone. A person that is one with God cannot fear the perfect love that now fills every part of his/her heart and soul. There is no selfish left and Satan cannot touch him/her any longer because there is no selfishness left for the devil to tempt.
A perfect person always has the choice to return to sin, but since all selfishness has been defeated by God’s love, sin has no power over a perfected person.
A perfect person is a brother of Jesus Christ and is no longer under the priesthood of Christ. The priesthood of Christ is only for the sanctification process to enable a person to become perfect. During the perfection process, Christ is our High Priest, but after perfection Christ becomes our brother instead. A perfect person has the same Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the devil (selfishness) is gone.
Michael W Reid
Showing posts with label fear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fear. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Church Must Repent
What has happened to God’s church? Jesus warned us about His future church and how it will stray away from Him and His truth.
2 Tim 4:3-5 - For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Well, that time is here. The so called church will no longer listen to or adhere to sound biblical doctrine. The church has turned into a worldly religious club where people come to have there own desires met instead of being obedient to God’s desires and commandments. Everyone has found the church that will preach what they want to hear with no regard to whether it is the biblical truth or not. Most are requiring to hear that they are saved regardless of whether they are obedient to God or not – or regardless of whether they really love God or not. To accommodate these fake salvation beliefs that enable all to believe they are saved, many lies and myths have been introduced and believed as truth and has replaced God’s truth.
When God’s light is shown – it easily displays what has been hidden in the dark. I am not the light, but I have the light of God living inside me. God’s light has been turned on in my life and has shown that what we call the church today is very much lacking. It is lacking in God’s truth, lacking in God’s love, lacking in obedience to God, and lacking in reverent fear of the all mighty God. But the church does have a lot of worldly deceptions, selfishness, pride, and a teaching that there are little or no consequences to our sin.
The current church of our day has turned the Gospel of Jesus Christ into a lie by changing word definitions and by adding or subtracting words from the scriptures as they see fit. These false teachers will be punished by God’s wrath, but what about the people they are misleading. This is where God has called me and others like me to proclaim the real Gospel. If anyone repents and turns and believes the real truth of God, they will be saved.
I have tried to work with many pastors and leaders of the church, but most have been so entrenched into believing the lies of the devil, that I have determined there is little hope in working with the current leadership of the churches. I am still open to working with any church leaders that become open to the true Word of God. But for now, I must try to reach as many people as are willing to believe the truth, so that they will believe and experience the true salvation of our Lord and Savior.
Below are some of the main deceptions plaguing the church:
The first and greatest deception in the church is that a person is born again and saved onto eternal life from the beginning of their relationship with God. Being born again by the filling of the Holy Spirit is a decision that God makes when a person displays to God that he/she is worthy to receive His Holy Spirit. God will not fill you with His Holy Spirit until you have been cleansed of all your selfishness and pride. A mark of a person that has been born again of God is that they no longer willfully sin against God. So if you are still willfully sinning against God – you are not born again.
The next greatest deception is that a person can enter a pure sinless heaven when they die even though they still have sin in their heart and soul. If you have not been born again by the time you die, because you have not totally died to your sinful nature – you will not be allowed to enter heaven because of the sin still left in your soul. No unclean or sinful thing will enter God’s eternal heaven.
Another deception is that a person doesn’t have to be totally obedient to God’s commandments to be eternally saved. The deception comes out of people thinking that obedience to God is a works and then they quote the scriptures that say we are not saved by our works. Obedience IS NOT A WORK of ours. It is a direct indication of how much we love God. Obedience is a byproduct of our love for God. When we truly love God, we will die to all of our own sinful selfish desires and only try to please God. If we love God, we will be obedient to His commandments. When God sees that we are trying to be only obedient to Him – out of us loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength – then He will send His Holy Spirit into us to mark us as His for eternity. It is only after we show our love for God through our obedience that God will claim us as His sons/daughters in Christ.
This next deception is the result of the previous three deceptions. Since the current church teaches lies that a person is born again from the beginning of their sanctification process, and that a person that still has the sinful nature can enter heaven, and that a person does not have to be obedient to God’s commands to enter heaven – then people believe the lie that there are no eternal consequences for their sin. This makes people feel a fake security in their eternity and that all fear of hell and God’s wrath is eliminated. They are only believing lies and fooling themselves. This lie of the devil has been believed and has worked greatly in the devil’s favor. We have to fear God to bring us to a true full salvation. You see the devil knows if he can get people to believe that they are born again from the start without being obedient to God – then all that believe this lie will stop searching for God and in turn will not find Him. People end up not searching for that full relationship with God because they have been convinced they don’t need to search any further – because they believe they are saved already. This is why most of the people in our churches today are not born again and not saved. They have short circuited their salvation by believing a lie and have never really been converted into a true disciple and a true child of God.
Your servant in Christ,
Michael Reid
2 Tim 4:3-5 - For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
Well, that time is here. The so called church will no longer listen to or adhere to sound biblical doctrine. The church has turned into a worldly religious club where people come to have there own desires met instead of being obedient to God’s desires and commandments. Everyone has found the church that will preach what they want to hear with no regard to whether it is the biblical truth or not. Most are requiring to hear that they are saved regardless of whether they are obedient to God or not – or regardless of whether they really love God or not. To accommodate these fake salvation beliefs that enable all to believe they are saved, many lies and myths have been introduced and believed as truth and has replaced God’s truth.
When God’s light is shown – it easily displays what has been hidden in the dark. I am not the light, but I have the light of God living inside me. God’s light has been turned on in my life and has shown that what we call the church today is very much lacking. It is lacking in God’s truth, lacking in God’s love, lacking in obedience to God, and lacking in reverent fear of the all mighty God. But the church does have a lot of worldly deceptions, selfishness, pride, and a teaching that there are little or no consequences to our sin.
The current church of our day has turned the Gospel of Jesus Christ into a lie by changing word definitions and by adding or subtracting words from the scriptures as they see fit. These false teachers will be punished by God’s wrath, but what about the people they are misleading. This is where God has called me and others like me to proclaim the real Gospel. If anyone repents and turns and believes the real truth of God, they will be saved.
I have tried to work with many pastors and leaders of the church, but most have been so entrenched into believing the lies of the devil, that I have determined there is little hope in working with the current leadership of the churches. I am still open to working with any church leaders that become open to the true Word of God. But for now, I must try to reach as many people as are willing to believe the truth, so that they will believe and experience the true salvation of our Lord and Savior.
Below are some of the main deceptions plaguing the church:
The first and greatest deception in the church is that a person is born again and saved onto eternal life from the beginning of their relationship with God. Being born again by the filling of the Holy Spirit is a decision that God makes when a person displays to God that he/she is worthy to receive His Holy Spirit. God will not fill you with His Holy Spirit until you have been cleansed of all your selfishness and pride. A mark of a person that has been born again of God is that they no longer willfully sin against God. So if you are still willfully sinning against God – you are not born again.
The next greatest deception is that a person can enter a pure sinless heaven when they die even though they still have sin in their heart and soul. If you have not been born again by the time you die, because you have not totally died to your sinful nature – you will not be allowed to enter heaven because of the sin still left in your soul. No unclean or sinful thing will enter God’s eternal heaven.
Another deception is that a person doesn’t have to be totally obedient to God’s commandments to be eternally saved. The deception comes out of people thinking that obedience to God is a works and then they quote the scriptures that say we are not saved by our works. Obedience IS NOT A WORK of ours. It is a direct indication of how much we love God. Obedience is a byproduct of our love for God. When we truly love God, we will die to all of our own sinful selfish desires and only try to please God. If we love God, we will be obedient to His commandments. When God sees that we are trying to be only obedient to Him – out of us loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength – then He will send His Holy Spirit into us to mark us as His for eternity. It is only after we show our love for God through our obedience that God will claim us as His sons/daughters in Christ.
This next deception is the result of the previous three deceptions. Since the current church teaches lies that a person is born again from the beginning of their sanctification process, and that a person that still has the sinful nature can enter heaven, and that a person does not have to be obedient to God’s commands to enter heaven – then people believe the lie that there are no eternal consequences for their sin. This makes people feel a fake security in their eternity and that all fear of hell and God’s wrath is eliminated. They are only believing lies and fooling themselves. This lie of the devil has been believed and has worked greatly in the devil’s favor. We have to fear God to bring us to a true full salvation. You see the devil knows if he can get people to believe that they are born again from the start without being obedient to God – then all that believe this lie will stop searching for God and in turn will not find Him. People end up not searching for that full relationship with God because they have been convinced they don’t need to search any further – because they believe they are saved already. This is why most of the people in our churches today are not born again and not saved. They have short circuited their salvation by believing a lie and have never really been converted into a true disciple and a true child of God.
Your servant in Christ,
Michael Reid
Friday, May 2, 2008
God Will Not Be Mocked – Message 2
Gal 6:7 - Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
Like in all the messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. So what does God have left to work with when it comes to reaching these lost souls – only FEAR. We must all come to the knowledge that God is God and we are not.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
I am calling to all people who are not already living by the Holy Spirit and by God’s precepts of love to come to a realization of who God really is and fear Him. For out of that fear of the true God and the realization of the damnation that He will cast you into - that you might come to Jesus Christ and be saved. But the fools that think they are wise and don’t need to be corrected by God will be cast into eternal suffering. It is not too late as long as you’re still breathing and you have come to the knowledge that you are spiritually bankrupt without God’s Holy Spirit in you. We have to realize that we don’t have anything in us that God would want in heaven, unless we have His Holy Spirit living already inside us. The only value we have, when it comes to being worthy of inheriting His eternal life with Him, is God Himself, living within us. His Spirit inside us is what is worth eternally keeping. We are not born with anything that would please God eternally. It is only His Spirit that is within us that pleases Him.
We must also come to an understanding that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for the asking. We can start down salvation’s path by confession and repentance, but the receiving of the Holy Spirit is reserved for the ones that have proven themselves faithful by dying to every sinful/selfish thing in them. The Holy Spirit cannot come in and fill a person until that heart and soul has previously been emptied. Before we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit is the one that comes along side our heart and soul to help us be cleansed of our selfish ways, but His Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us and give us a new heart until the previous process has been completed. This gets us to the next subject of this message and that is - what is this life all about.
This life is not about God blessing us so we can live a happy life. God is not our sugar daddy that just gives us everything we want – the devil does that for us. It is not about seeing how successful we can become in the world’s eye or how much money we make or have - this is what the devil helps us believe so that we never come to the knowledge that we need God. It is not even about seeing how good of a person we can be – God is the only one that is good and if we have any true goodness, it is only a byproduct of God’s Spirit living inside us. So what is this life really all about then?
Life on this earth is all about God testing and purifying us and then glorifying Him – not glorifying ourselves. God needs to test our heart and souls before He will let us inherit His eternal life. But some of you might say - how can this be? This sounds like God looks at our works. If you are thinking this, you are half way right. God does look at works, but is not our works He looks at. It is His works He is doing through us or trying to do through us. If we have belief and faith in God, than there will be works that come out of that faith, but if we don’t have real faith, there will be no works. This is why God says:
James 2:26 - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Every good thing we do or will do comes from God. When we first believe in God, that belief is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we put our faith in God’s Son Jesus Christ, that faith is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we repent from selfishness and turn to God, that power to repent is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we have hope for what God has promised, that hope is given to us through faith that God’s Spirit gives to us if we are open to it. When we are found faithful and worthy by all of God’s grace working in us, God’s Spirit then sends His Holy Spirit into us to live with us as one.
John 14:15-17 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Before being filled with His Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit works at bringing us to salvation, but it is only upon this filling of the Holy Spirit that we can say that we have become one with God.
Phil 2:1-2 - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
John 14:20 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are saved onto heaven just because God’s Spirit is drawing you or working in your life. God must first work in you in order for you to be brought to salvation. When you have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will attest to you that you are saved because you will know God intimately. You will know the nature of God and you will also notice that the Holy Spirit has taken control of your nature. You will be a slave to God’s will and you will love every minute with the Father in heaven because you will be sharing in His love, holiness, and righteousness. You will know that Christ is in you and you are in Christ and you are in the Father, because He is in you. Just like Jesus Christ is in the Father, you will know you are also in Christ which is in the Father. You will know that you have become one in Spirit with the Father and the Son. You will not hesitate to be called a brother with Jesus Christ, because Christ’s Spirit is in you and you are a son of the Father just like Christ is the Son of the Father.
I say all this to let people know that most people, including most believers are being fooled by the devil out of their salvation. God has called me to prophesy the truth to who ever will listen. Through the Holy Spirit that lives inside me and is now part of me, God has made known the very nature of Him self to me and I need to let everybody know that even though most people are being deceived – God is not being fooled. God wants to have His creation open their eyes, read His Word, and be lead by His Spirit to true salvation. Don’t go to other Christian books. None of these other Christian books have the full truth – they are partial truths. Everybody is set free by the truth, the whole truth. A partial truth is always deceiving. Read only the Bible for the full truth. Every Christian writer must have the whole Bible to back up what he/she is writing. So get to know the Word of God first before studying anyone else’s books.
God wants to let everybody in the United States know that – God has left us no excuse to not be saved, other than our choice of unwillingness. God has already given the Way, Truth, and Life to make this possible for anyone who believes. There will be a few (small percentage) that are saved. Are you willing to be one of the few?
Like in all the messages in this series, I will start out emphasizing how God wants His creation to see the full depth of His love for us, but since most people (including most believers) are so emerged in loving themselves, they can’t see or even understand God’s agape love that He has for us. So what does God have left to work with when it comes to reaching these lost souls – only FEAR. We must all come to the knowledge that God is God and we are not.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
I am calling to all people who are not already living by the Holy Spirit and by God’s precepts of love to come to a realization of who God really is and fear Him. For out of that fear of the true God and the realization of the damnation that He will cast you into - that you might come to Jesus Christ and be saved. But the fools that think they are wise and don’t need to be corrected by God will be cast into eternal suffering. It is not too late as long as you’re still breathing and you have come to the knowledge that you are spiritually bankrupt without God’s Holy Spirit in you. We have to realize that we don’t have anything in us that God would want in heaven, unless we have His Holy Spirit living already inside us. The only value we have, when it comes to being worthy of inheriting His eternal life with Him, is God Himself, living within us. His Spirit inside us is what is worth eternally keeping. We are not born with anything that would please God eternally. It is only His Spirit that is within us that pleases Him.
We must also come to an understanding that the filling of the Holy Spirit is not just for the asking. We can start down salvation’s path by confession and repentance, but the receiving of the Holy Spirit is reserved for the ones that have proven themselves faithful by dying to every sinful/selfish thing in them. The Holy Spirit cannot come in and fill a person until that heart and soul has previously been emptied. Before we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit is the one that comes along side our heart and soul to help us be cleansed of our selfish ways, but His Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us and give us a new heart until the previous process has been completed. This gets us to the next subject of this message and that is - what is this life all about.
This life is not about God blessing us so we can live a happy life. God is not our sugar daddy that just gives us everything we want – the devil does that for us. It is not about seeing how successful we can become in the world’s eye or how much money we make or have - this is what the devil helps us believe so that we never come to the knowledge that we need God. It is not even about seeing how good of a person we can be – God is the only one that is good and if we have any true goodness, it is only a byproduct of God’s Spirit living inside us. So what is this life really all about then?
Life on this earth is all about God testing and purifying us and then glorifying Him – not glorifying ourselves. God needs to test our heart and souls before He will let us inherit His eternal life. But some of you might say - how can this be? This sounds like God looks at our works. If you are thinking this, you are half way right. God does look at works, but is not our works He looks at. It is His works He is doing through us or trying to do through us. If we have belief and faith in God, than there will be works that come out of that faith, but if we don’t have real faith, there will be no works. This is why God says:
James 2:26 - For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Every good thing we do or will do comes from God. When we first believe in God, that belief is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we put our faith in God’s Son Jesus Christ, that faith is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we repent from selfishness and turn to God, that power to repent is given to us by God’s Spirit if we are open to it. When we have hope for what God has promised, that hope is given to us through faith that God’s Spirit gives to us if we are open to it. When we are found faithful and worthy by all of God’s grace working in us, God’s Spirit then sends His Holy Spirit into us to live with us as one.
John 14:15-17 - If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
John 14:23-24 - Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Before being filled with His Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit works at bringing us to salvation, but it is only upon this filling of the Holy Spirit that we can say that we have become one with God.
Phil 2:1-2 - If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
John 14:20 - On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are saved onto heaven just because God’s Spirit is drawing you or working in your life. God must first work in you in order for you to be brought to salvation. When you have received the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will attest to you that you are saved because you will know God intimately. You will know the nature of God and you will also notice that the Holy Spirit has taken control of your nature. You will be a slave to God’s will and you will love every minute with the Father in heaven because you will be sharing in His love, holiness, and righteousness. You will know that Christ is in you and you are in Christ and you are in the Father, because He is in you. Just like Jesus Christ is in the Father, you will know you are also in Christ which is in the Father. You will know that you have become one in Spirit with the Father and the Son. You will not hesitate to be called a brother with Jesus Christ, because Christ’s Spirit is in you and you are a son of the Father just like Christ is the Son of the Father.
I say all this to let people know that most people, including most believers are being fooled by the devil out of their salvation. God has called me to prophesy the truth to who ever will listen. Through the Holy Spirit that lives inside me and is now part of me, God has made known the very nature of Him self to me and I need to let everybody know that even though most people are being deceived – God is not being fooled. God wants to have His creation open their eyes, read His Word, and be lead by His Spirit to true salvation. Don’t go to other Christian books. None of these other Christian books have the full truth – they are partial truths. Everybody is set free by the truth, the whole truth. A partial truth is always deceiving. Read only the Bible for the full truth. Every Christian writer must have the whole Bible to back up what he/she is writing. So get to know the Word of God first before studying anyone else’s books.
God wants to let everybody in the United States know that – God has left us no excuse to not be saved, other than our choice of unwillingness. God has already given the Way, Truth, and Life to make this possible for anyone who believes. There will be a few (small percentage) that are saved. Are you willing to be one of the few?
Your servant in Christ – Michael Reid
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Who Are We Repenting For
Are we repenting for us or are we repenting for God? Are we repenting out of love for ourselves or out of love for God?
What does repenting mean? When we repent, we are sorrowful of our sin(s) and turn from our acts of sin that come from our selfish nature and at the same time turn to God in total obedience to eradicate those sins by the power of His Spirit.
There is mainly two ways in which we repent. One is out of a selfish fear and the other is out of the love we have for our Father in heaven. Almost all people come to God initially out of frustration and fear for themselves. They come to a breaking point where they realize their sins and have no way of healing themselves. They also come to believe that if they continue in these sins, they will go to hell instead of heaven. When God calls these people, most people come to God out of desperation. This desperation is motivated out of a fear of God and a fear for themselves. Fear is a big motivator and even though fear is not from the Lord, but from our own selfishness, God will use it to fulfill His purposes.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
So how do we repent in a way most pleasing to God? This is where most people run into trouble. Most of this message will concentrate on repenting in a way that is most pleasing to God. We must remember when it comes to righteousness, there is only one way to do things, and that is God’s way.
What is the right way to repent after our initial coming to the Lord? To find out let’s dig a little deeper. Sin can only come from selfishness and pride and cannot come out of love. Every time we sin, we are acting out of our own selfishness or pride and we cannot be loving God or others. Jesus came to conquer all sin in believers. What was the main weapon He sent through the Holy Spirit to do this? Love - pure love. When we are born again, God gives us a new heart. God does this by removing the sinful selfish nature and replacing it with His love. Since sin cannot come out of a heart filled with love, the sinful nature is eradicated with the over powering love of God.
So, should we repent because we want to be saved or continue in our salvation state, or do we repent because we love God? There is a big difference and what way is acceptable to God after our justification experience. To help us understand, I want to look at the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible.
When the prodigal son came to himself and started the journey back to his fathers land, this represented the initial turning back to his father out of fear for himself. He had run out of his inheritance money and was hungry. He knew there was plenty of food back at his father’s home. (This was the motivating fear for self preservation). But he also wanted to return to be under his fathers love and protection again. (This was the wanting to be saved from his worldly life). This fear of self preservation and wanting to be saved from himself drove him to be humbled and willing to be one of his father’s servants. This initial repentance was all about the prodigal son benefit and not about the father. This repentance was still all generated out of love and fear for himself.
After the son returned to his father and the father loved him and accepted him fully back into the family. Do you think that son continued repenting out of fear for himself, or out of love for his father? After we come to our Father through Jesus Christ and realize the love He showed and shows us, do we continue in our repenting and try to be obedient to God commandments so He won’t throw us back from where we came, or do we repent and be obedient to His will because we want to please Him alone in everything we do. We might initially repent from fear, but our repenting should not continue out of fear, it should continue out of love for our Father.
When our reason for repenting is to hopefully be good enough to stay saved, we are trying to turn from our sin out of our own selfishness. When we repent in this way, we are still trying to save ourselves.
Mark 8:35 - For whoever wants to save his life will lose it
When we repent because we think we might not have eternal life if we don’t, we are still only repenting out of our own selfishness and fear. Since this kind of repenting is self centered, you are actually sinning while you are trying to repent. Also, unless you repent in a way pleasing to God, which is out of love for the Father, the turning from the sin will not usually take hold and you will find yourself repenting over and over for the same sins.
So what does repenting out of love look like? Remember repenting is turning away from the sin and turning to God. When we repent out of selfishness in order to try to save ourselves, we are trying to abstain from sin, but not turning to God. We must turn to God at the same time or else it won’t work.
What does turning to God mean? It is all about growing in love with God.
James 4:8 - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
When we are self centered we only love ourselves. You know, just like the devil loved only himself. This is maybe how we start out with God, but it can’t be how we stay in relationship with God. After justification we start being sanctified if we let God’s Spirit work in our lives. Sanctification is a process of becoming holy as God is holy. Almost all of us have to go through this process. The key to understanding sanctification is that it is not really a process of getting rid of our sins; it is a process in which we are transferring our love from ourselves to loving God only. In doing this we end up giving our whole life over to him.
Mark 8:35 - For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
John 14:24 - He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
The key to repenting is repenting out of love for God and His glory; it has nothing to do with us. It is all about Him. When we repent out of love for our Father in Heaven, we want to repent of all our sins because we want to truly please Him, not us. This is totally opposite to repenting for us. When we repent for us, we don’t want to repent, but we do it because we think we need to. When we repent out of love, it is like my son being obedient to me because he loves me, not because he fears me. When my son is obedient out of love, he is obedient because he wants to be obedient. If my son is being obedient out of fear, he is not being obedient because he wants to; he is being obedient because of the consequences he might receive if he isn’t obedient. If the obedience is out of fear, he will quit being obedient as soon as he is away from me.
John 14:15 - If you love Me, keep My commandments.
So start loving God by getting to know Him through His word and Spirit. If you are trying to save yourself, STOP IT. Repent out of love for our Father in heaven and for His Glory.
God Bless,
Mike Reid
What does repenting mean? When we repent, we are sorrowful of our sin(s) and turn from our acts of sin that come from our selfish nature and at the same time turn to God in total obedience to eradicate those sins by the power of His Spirit.
There is mainly two ways in which we repent. One is out of a selfish fear and the other is out of the love we have for our Father in heaven. Almost all people come to God initially out of frustration and fear for themselves. They come to a breaking point where they realize their sins and have no way of healing themselves. They also come to believe that if they continue in these sins, they will go to hell instead of heaven. When God calls these people, most people come to God out of desperation. This desperation is motivated out of a fear of God and a fear for themselves. Fear is a big motivator and even though fear is not from the Lord, but from our own selfishness, God will use it to fulfill His purposes.
Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
So how do we repent in a way most pleasing to God? This is where most people run into trouble. Most of this message will concentrate on repenting in a way that is most pleasing to God. We must remember when it comes to righteousness, there is only one way to do things, and that is God’s way.
What is the right way to repent after our initial coming to the Lord? To find out let’s dig a little deeper. Sin can only come from selfishness and pride and cannot come out of love. Every time we sin, we are acting out of our own selfishness or pride and we cannot be loving God or others. Jesus came to conquer all sin in believers. What was the main weapon He sent through the Holy Spirit to do this? Love - pure love. When we are born again, God gives us a new heart. God does this by removing the sinful selfish nature and replacing it with His love. Since sin cannot come out of a heart filled with love, the sinful nature is eradicated with the over powering love of God.
So, should we repent because we want to be saved or continue in our salvation state, or do we repent because we love God? There is a big difference and what way is acceptable to God after our justification experience. To help us understand, I want to look at the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible.
When the prodigal son came to himself and started the journey back to his fathers land, this represented the initial turning back to his father out of fear for himself. He had run out of his inheritance money and was hungry. He knew there was plenty of food back at his father’s home. (This was the motivating fear for self preservation). But he also wanted to return to be under his fathers love and protection again. (This was the wanting to be saved from his worldly life). This fear of self preservation and wanting to be saved from himself drove him to be humbled and willing to be one of his father’s servants. This initial repentance was all about the prodigal son benefit and not about the father. This repentance was still all generated out of love and fear for himself.
After the son returned to his father and the father loved him and accepted him fully back into the family. Do you think that son continued repenting out of fear for himself, or out of love for his father? After we come to our Father through Jesus Christ and realize the love He showed and shows us, do we continue in our repenting and try to be obedient to God commandments so He won’t throw us back from where we came, or do we repent and be obedient to His will because we want to please Him alone in everything we do. We might initially repent from fear, but our repenting should not continue out of fear, it should continue out of love for our Father.
When our reason for repenting is to hopefully be good enough to stay saved, we are trying to turn from our sin out of our own selfishness. When we repent in this way, we are still trying to save ourselves.
Mark 8:35 - For whoever wants to save his life will lose it
When we repent because we think we might not have eternal life if we don’t, we are still only repenting out of our own selfishness and fear. Since this kind of repenting is self centered, you are actually sinning while you are trying to repent. Also, unless you repent in a way pleasing to God, which is out of love for the Father, the turning from the sin will not usually take hold and you will find yourself repenting over and over for the same sins.
So what does repenting out of love look like? Remember repenting is turning away from the sin and turning to God. When we repent out of selfishness in order to try to save ourselves, we are trying to abstain from sin, but not turning to God. We must turn to God at the same time or else it won’t work.
What does turning to God mean? It is all about growing in love with God.
James 4:8 - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
When we are self centered we only love ourselves. You know, just like the devil loved only himself. This is maybe how we start out with God, but it can’t be how we stay in relationship with God. After justification we start being sanctified if we let God’s Spirit work in our lives. Sanctification is a process of becoming holy as God is holy. Almost all of us have to go through this process. The key to understanding sanctification is that it is not really a process of getting rid of our sins; it is a process in which we are transferring our love from ourselves to loving God only. In doing this we end up giving our whole life over to him.
Mark 8:35 - For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
John 14:24 - He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
The key to repenting is repenting out of love for God and His glory; it has nothing to do with us. It is all about Him. When we repent out of love for our Father in Heaven, we want to repent of all our sins because we want to truly please Him, not us. This is totally opposite to repenting for us. When we repent for us, we don’t want to repent, but we do it because we think we need to. When we repent out of love, it is like my son being obedient to me because he loves me, not because he fears me. When my son is obedient out of love, he is obedient because he wants to be obedient. If my son is being obedient out of fear, he is not being obedient because he wants to; he is being obedient because of the consequences he might receive if he isn’t obedient. If the obedience is out of fear, he will quit being obedient as soon as he is away from me.
John 14:15 - If you love Me, keep My commandments.
So start loving God by getting to know Him through His word and Spirit. If you are trying to save yourself, STOP IT. Repent out of love for our Father in heaven and for His Glory.
God Bless,
Mike Reid
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