Who is the greatest influence on your decision making process? Because your decisions always reflect the greatest influences on your life do you realize that? There is always some outside influence on your decision making. So who is the greatest influence of your decision maker? There will be all kinds of different answers. Now I want you to think about that for a moment because no matter what answer you gave it all can be categorized as either God or Satan.

Good or evil as the flesh or spirit. Every single influence that operates to affect your decision making process can be and should be put in one of those categories that is really what this series has been all about soul control Now we are on the last part of this study we are looking at the spirit now the real you. The real you is not a dirt bag that’s not the real you. The real you is the spirit made in the image and likeness of God. We have been talking about how to be spirit led. First of all you have to know how crucially important it is and in this lesson we talked about three keys. I believe three keys because we are a three part being a key to control our body a key to control the operation of our soul and the third key is the key or control on how to be led by the spirit.

The third key was the understanding of aligning our lives with the principles of sowing and reaping. Jesus said the whole kingdom of God works on the principles of sowing and reaping. He said if we didn’t understand that parable we would not understand any of them. In other words it is foundational or key to being spirit led. The leading of the spirit is not going to take you anywhere outside that paradigm of the seed principle because the whole kingdom works on that basis. Most people don’t know much about the seed principle, seed is the word of God the soil is the heart of man and it isn’t enough for you to just cultivate your own seed because the bible says it’s what you sow because the process has to continue. You can’t sow in your own heart and our harvest in life depends entirely on what we sow. So it is everything about your life saying something about God your manner of life, the words you speak, your actions, your attitudes, the way you dress the way you use your money everything about you says something to someone else about God. Now if you are sowing good seeds than you have a good harvest but if you are sowing weed seed than you have a problem. So that’s why we need to be open to the leading of the spirit because the spirit will guide us in the right direction.

Now today let’s turn that around let’s talk about the way the Spirit does not led.  Never look back let’s look at Phil. 3:13-14

Philippians 3:13-14 (AMP)
⁽¹³⁾ I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
⁽¹⁴⁾ I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. That sums it up that is what we are supposed to do in this life. We are supposed to be a presser we have marks to press for the high calling, the grand plan God has for us. This is a plan that most people do not realize; there is a better plan God has for us than the one we are now living, we need to grab hold of that thought and never forget it. We have to come out of our peanut thinking we are potential world changers and we need to get with the program. God has plans for us that are just awesome. This is the high calling of God but we can’t achieve it any other way except through the anointing that Jesus brings. God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

That ultimately that prize is Heaven, but Jesus made it clear that we could have heaven on earth we don’t have to wait until we die because the Greek word Zoë is not a single dimensional concept. Because Zoë means the God kind of life and the word says we can have Zoë life on earth. Now what does that mean? As you reach closer and closer to your high calling you will experience more and more of the God kind of life. That is the prize. He says to press, that word means to make maximum continuous effort. Your life has to be focused like a laser beam on carrying out that command. It makes me sad because as a young man I took the worlds way instead of the Higher way and I often wonder how different my family’s life would have been if I would have lived these principles and taught them to my family when we were all young. That word press means giving maximum effort and doing the best you can do all the time. We can’t do that on our own but Jesus gives us marks or goals that we are to press for in our life some marks are general and we can find them in the word.

Then there are specific marks things that God shows you about your life and what you are supposed to do that you can press for this week this month this year and it will take you toward your high calling. This is all predicated on doing something Paul talks about in the verse prior to this before you can reach for that which lies ahead Paul says this one thing I do forgetting that which is past. This is one of the greatest challenges we as believer have today. Because most people whether they know it or not allow past experiences to hinder or influence their decision making process. Paul says you cannot do that.  That not saying don’t learn from past mistakes don’t make adjustments but the word forget here means put out of mind. We control what we think about and we are being told not to think about what is past learn some lessons make some corrections but then don’t think about it anymore move on. Most people haven’t got to first base on this mandate yet. This is a prerequisite to reaching for what lies before. Paul said you got to get unhooked from your mind, the past or you will never be able to progress in God. The leading of the spirit will never be too think about or ponder the past. The leading of the spirit all orientates you towards today or tomorrow never backwards.

Three categories of things we need to forget about our past. It helps us be more specific in dealing with our thought life. So the three general categories that the bible says very clearly we are not to think about or to put them out of mind. The first thing that we are to put out of our mind and to forget about is your sin or in another way our disobedience one way or the other it is sin. Remember our sin is not graded on a one to ten scale a sin is a sin. It’s all disobedience and it breaks our fellowship with God. So what do we do if we sin? Well if we are born again I have good news for you we are not subject to slaved by or bound by sin. We all make mistakes no one is perfect so we need what the bible calls repentance. 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 (AMP)
⁽⁹⁾ If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

This is often called the Christians bar of soap but it is just plain old repentance. We are not supposed to use grace as a cover all because it is not. The bible says we have been made a king and a priest unto God so we can go to God and ask for his forgiveness and we should do this every day. Because that verse says he cleanses us from all unrighteous even what we are not aware of but He knows. Isn’t that good news, but it doesn’t stop here because he says once the forgiveness has been dealt with there is something else yet to be done look in Isaiah 43:25-26

Isaiah 43:25-26 (AMP)
(25) I, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (26) Put Me in remembrance [remind Me of your merits]; let us plead and argue together. Set forth your case, that you may be justified (proved right).

Not only does he blot them out but then He says I will not remember them. So forgiveness and forgetting always go hand in hand and let me add this if you do not forgive others God will not forgive you. There is nothing that will close the door on God’s plan for your life than a sense of guilt that you are holding on too. It’s a pervading sense of unworthiness that many people have that keeps them from receiving what God has for them. All of us have a calling on our lives that requires the anointing of God and if you hold on to this thought of unworthiness you will block the anointing from blessing your life. This is a very important issue think about it in your own life. Everyone has skeletons in their closet. Keep fighting it but don’t let it keep you from the anointing God has for you and if you continue to fight it God says in his word that he will perfect you and that thorn will fall away He that has started a good work in me will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ Amen! So the first thing you have to forget about your past is your sin.

The second thing you have to forget about your past are your failures similar to sin but not quite the same thing some failure is caused by sin but much of it is because we didn’t listen to God or we didn’t use wisdom and we did something we should not have done and we experience failure. Turn to Hebrews 10:32 this is one place in scripture where we are reminded of our past.

Hebrews 10:32 (AMP)
⁽³²⁾ But be ever mindful of the days gone by in which, after you were first spiritually enlightened, you endured a great and painful struggle,

What he is saying is think back on the past struggles that you over came to get where you are today.

Hebrews 10:35-36 (AMP)
(35) Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. (36) For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.

Paul is saying don’t forget that because it will give you confidence. So what he is saying is think back on your victories but forget your defeats. God doesn’t make failures he makes winners. The enemy will always remind you in what you failed in to slow your momentum for achieving your goals. Because it produces negative expectations for what your future holds. Disappointment is defined by Webster’s as the frustration of expectancy and it is the strategy of the enemy to reinforce these disappointments by repetitions because then it moves from being frustrated expectancy to negative expectancy that is the very opposite we need to walk in the promises of God. The Lord said he has prepared for us an expectant end. See many people believe God is a healer but they haven’t been able to expect God is a healer for their life. Usually because they have had a chronic illness that has robbed them of their expectation they can’t generate the expatiation necessary to make their faith work the force of disappointment which is always rooted in past experience. Disappointment on a repetitive basis produces negative expatiations. That robs your faith of an element needed to bring the promises of God in your life. Do not think of past failures. The key you can’t give up.  You have to put your past failure out of your mind. These things are all in the past. So first of all you have to put your sins out of mind secondly you have to put your past failures out of mind. Past experiences should not control or influence present decision making. So you have to put these things out of mind. The third and maybe the most important category of past experiences you need to forget are the sin and failure of others. It will hold you back just as surely as your own failures and sin. Many times we don’t connect with this but believe me it is a biggie! Let’s take a look at Mark 11: 24-26

Mark 11:24-26 (NKJV)
²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. ²⁵ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

I’m not sure why that hasn’t had more of an impact on the body of Christ than it has many people who complain that faith isn’t working for them are holding ought against someone in their life and they refuse to forgive them. I don’t mean just in their head either I mean a total forgiveness from the heart so it is completely gone from the mind; this cannot be faked, because you can’t fake God.   What does it mean if God would not forgive you of your sin; the wages of sin is death. It might be a slow slide, maybe your marriage isn’t quite what it should be, your job is not working out like you thought, you have little health problems that won’t go away it’s a slow slide but it touches every area of your life. The only thing that will stop that slide for us is God’s forgiveness that he made available by the shed blood of Jesus. But He says He can’t forgive us, that means apply the blood to our lives if we refuse to forgive others. Now remember forgiving means forgetting. You can’t have one without the other. I believe this principle is most prevalent in relationships, families and marriages. If you will not apply the principle of forgiving and forgetting the relationships will never get stronger and eventually will wither and die off. That means you are locked into a consequence of your sin which means death. Because when you refuse to forgive and forget what you are saying is; its ok for God to forgive them, but not me. If you will not forgive and forget and you keep thinking about the other person’s failures and inadequacies you are playing with spiritual fire and you will get burned. This is something we have to get more serious about then we have been. When you hold somebody else’s sin or inadequacies in your mind you will relate to them totally different, because you are focusing on the sins of his flesh. Remember God uses people to minister to other people. You cut off that person from ever being used by God in your life again. Think about that! Don’t close yourself off from the provisions of God for your own lives remember this goes both ways.

Isaiah 43:25 (NKJV)
²⁵ “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.

To be led of the Spirit, never look back; forget your own sin, forget your own failure, and forget the sin and failure of others

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

Who is this Melchizedek that is talked about in the Original Covenant ( O.T.) and the Renewed Covenant (N.T.) He seems to be a mystical character, king of Salem, Salem later renamed Jerusalem that gives us a hint. Who reign’s as King in Jerusalem during the millennium? Hum……………!  And a priest of the High God also if you read the ancient rabbinical writings which are often referred to for historical content of Old Testament times there is much said about this mystical character. The question is for what purpose and was he a real character?

Genesis 14:18-20 (MSG)
⁽¹⁸⁾ Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine—he was priest of The High God— ⁽¹⁹⁾ and blessed him: Blessed be Abram by The High God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. ⁽²⁰⁾ And blessed be The High God, who handed your enemies over to you. Abram gave him a tenth of all the recovered plunder.

Psalms 110:4 (AMP)
⁽⁴⁾ The Lord has sworn and will not revoke or change it: You are a priest forever, after the manner and order of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 5:6 (AMP)
⁽⁶⁾ As He says also in another place, You are a Priest [appointed] forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 5:9-10 (AMP)
⁽⁹⁾ And, [His completed experience] making Him perfectly [equipped], He became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him,
⁽¹⁰⁾ Being designated and recognized and saluted by God as High Priest after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:20 (AMP)
⁽²⁰⁾ Where Jesus has entered in for us [in advance], a Forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:11 (AMP)
⁽¹¹⁾ Now if perfection (a perfect fellowship between God and the worshiper) had been attainable by the Levitical priesthood—for under it the people were given the Law—why was it further necessary that there should arise another and different kind of Priest, one after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one appointed after the order and rank of Aaron?

Hebrews 7:17 (AMP)
⁽¹⁷⁾ For it is witnessed of Him, You are a Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.

Hebrews 7:21 (AMP)
⁽²¹⁾ For those who formerly became priests received their office without its being confirmed by the taking of an oath by God, but this One was designated and addressed andor change His mind, You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. saluted with an oath, The Lord has sworn and will not regret it

Now I have thought about this for the past week there is so much here that needs to be explained but that was not the intent of this study. I would really like to do a whole study just on this subject. But I would like to leave you with these verses and my thoughts:

Hebrews 7:1-3 (AMP)
⁽¹⁾ FOR THIS Melchizedek, king of Salem [and] priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, ⁽²⁾ And Abraham gave to him a tenth portion of all [the spoil]. He is primarily, as his name when translated indicates, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, which means king of peace. ⁽³⁾ Without [record of] father or mother or ancestral line, neither with beginning of days nor ending of life, but, resembling the Son of God, he continues to be a priest without interruption and without successor.

“The order of Melchizedek” is the order of a priesthood that originated in the heavenly realm. First mentioned in the Old Testament in the Hebrew culture and then expounded on in the New Testament. The New Testament Church with its Greek (Hellenistic roots) has failed to see the culture behind the words. The book of Hebrews is not about a new covenant that is taught in most Church’s in this country but about a renewed priesthood after the order of Melchizedek.

Now I would like to say this, the past two years going back in History and analyzing what has happened to this country, you know the way I think because I have gone through my rant many times in these studies. I believe everything that is going on is a spiritual battle in this world and it started in the book of Genesis:

Genesis 3:14-15 (AMP)
⁽¹⁴⁾ And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all [domestic] animals and above every [wild] living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust [and what it contains] all the days of your life. ⁽¹⁵⁾ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.

God declared war on Satan but he also gave Satan dominion over this earth. To use people to deceive and lie and cheat to have his way on this earth, now think about this the Hebrew people are God’s chosen people so Satan turns the entire population of the world against them including the words and culture that God gave them. Even the western Hellenistic trained Church who has adopted replacement theology which for people that don’t understand what replacement theology is( it’s main teaching is that the so called New Testament church has replaced the Jewish people as God’s favorite people) are you beginning to see what is going on here! Satan has used anti-Semitism to turn the whole world against the Jewish people and in so doing he has also spread a false spin on his word. There is only one bible and one word of God. God does not deceive but someone else is a master at it.

Now many of you might think I am some kind of nut case, my children have for years, do your home work study history. Study the early Church and you will see how Satan has worked his deception, through people, down through the ages. It will jump off the page and smack you right between the eyes.

Question everything, because what you see or think you see is not what is really going on. People have become sheep and are being lead down a path of destruction and 80% don’t have a clue what is going on and that was also Satan’s plan. Don’t just listen to what they are saying look at what they are doing, and you will get a whole different picture.

Constantine’s Christian Creed

”I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads and sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all the other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspirations, purifications, sanctifications, and propitiations, and fasts and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants, and observances and synagogues. absolutely everything Jewish, every Law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Cain and the leprosy of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be an anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils.” (Stcfano Assemani, Acta Sanctorium Martyrum Orientalium at Occidentalium, Vol. 1, Rome 1748, page 105)

Furthermore, any follower of the “Jewish Messiah” (Yeshua HaMashiach) who wished to join this “holy community” was compelled to adopt a different set of rules and customs. Subsequently special creeds were drafted, to which the Christian would have to swear such as: “1 accept all customs, rites, legalism,and feasts of the Romans, sacrifices. Prayers, purifications with water, sanctifications by Pontificus Maxmus (high priests of Rome), propitiations, and feasts, and the New Sabbath “So! dei” (day of the Sun,), all new chants and observances, and all the foods and drinks of the Romans. In other words, I absolutely accept everything Roman, every new law, rite and custom, of Rome, and the New Roman Religion.”

Additionally, in approximately 365 AD, the Catholic Council of Laodicea wrote, in one of their canons: Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day. Rather, honoring the Lord’s Day. But if any shall be found to be Judaizers, let them be anathema (against) from Christ”.

Men becoming God, Question Everything.

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

So many people have this idea about life that whatever comes down in their life they have to roll with it. That is wrong we have choices God has gives us that right to make choices and it is us that does the choosing. That is why it is so important because whoever controls your soul controls your destiny and your experiences in life. The contest is between the god of this world who is Satan the prince of the powers of the air he has legal spiritual right to manipulate circumstances with people until the end of this dispensation as the god of this world to accomplish his purposes which are to persuade you through the worldly arena and your flesh which we live in to navigate this world, to make choices for death and cursing.

On the other hand God is laboring through your spirit according to the word when you are born again your spirit is reconnected with the spirit of God we have been joined with him once again in his image and likeness to become a temple of the Holy Spirit. So God labors to influence your decision making through your spirit. As the temple of the Holy Spirit he labors to bring influence to bare in your life through your spirit, so we will make choices for life and blessings. This is a truth of what our daily challenge is. Spiritual warfare is really what it all boils down to. This is what life as a born again believer is all about or should be about. The enemies attempt is to generate so much pressure through the worldly arena, through your flesh that you make decisions designed to relieve the pressure. This is what the challenge is all about. When the pressure is on we are always tempted to make decisions to relieve the pressure. Let’s look at Matt. 16:19 to see if we can find some keys:

Matthew 16:19 (AMP)
⁽¹⁹⁾ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.

Now this is a verse that is familiar with many people but how many real understand what Jesus was talking about. Most people take this verse and from time to time they will bind Satan they will loose the angels to go get their finances. We might bind sickness and diseases and loose the anointing of God. I believe this verse goes much deeper than just causal understand of this verse. It says that there are keys that are going to do the binding and the loosing. We have to understand and utilize the keys that he is talking about. So it seems imperative that we need to understand the keys of the kingdom of heaven before we can effectively use the binding and the loosing. We need to understand what the keys are. What do keys do what are they all about? They usually open something like doors to the kingdom. Jesus told us that we were to pray that his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. So we are looking for keys that would help control our lives so we could experience the kingdom of heaven. There are three keys to the kingdom in regards to controlling our lives so we can experience the kingdom of heaven.

Key to controlling your body (words)

Key to controlling your Soul (renewing the mind)

Key to controlling your Spirit

We have already been through two of them but let’s do a quick review. The key to controlling your body:  James 3:2

James 3:2 (AMP)
⁽²⁾ For we all often stumble and fall and offend in many things. And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.

This is the first key to controlling our body, the words we speak.

Romans 5:17 (MSG)
⁽¹⁷⁾ If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

God has given us the power to reign over our domain because we are kings and priest which we have inherited through him. God has given us the power to reign over our domain which is our life and anybody he has put under my spiritual authority we can speak into like our children our family anyone who god has put over me. To many believers surprise that even includes Satan.So my domain is Me. So how does a king reign he makes a decree and then everyone is subject to that decree. So when the king speaks things get done so there are a lot of people listening to your decree and when you decree negative words you have made a decree to the hosts of darkness and they will ensure that your words come to past. So when you get up in the morning and declare that you are a healthy child of God and you are not going to receive any negative thoughts into your spirit you are decreeing Gods best for your life. This is a decree that the angelic hosts respond too. Always use your words to better your situation. Your words are the key to your body. You have to understand the power of your words they are very powerful.

Now let’s look at the soul in Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 (AMP)
⁽²⁾ Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

The Key to controlling the Soul is a renewed mind. Because the soul is where decisions are made and we talked about the decision making process in the section on the soul. Transformation is a key to the kingdom. Renewing of the mind is changing your entire thinking process to line up with God’s word. This is a daily thing not a onetime experience. You know when your mind is being renewed because your feelings begin to change.

Now we get to the lesson for today the key to being spiritually controlled.

Now the first question is; how can you be lead of the spirit if you have no idea what direction you need to go?  You have to know where he is trying to take you. We have to have an understanding of what the life Jesus wants us to lead is all about. Let’s look at Mark 4:26-29

Mark 4:26-29 (AMP)
⁽²⁶⁾ And He said, The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed upon the ground,
⁽²⁷⁾ And then continues sleeping and rising night and day while the seed sprouts and grows and increases—he knows not how. ⁽²⁸⁾ The earth produces [acting] by itself—first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.⁽²⁹⁾ But when the grain is ripe and permits, immediately he sends forth [the reapers] and puts in the sickle, because the harvest stands ready.

He said in the beginning of verse 26 the kingdom of God this is a key. You have to understand the principles of sowing and reaping. It’s a shame today that most believers equate sowing and reaping to be all about money. Money is not the seed God wants us to sow the seed is God’s word. He tells us in this parable that the seed is his word. The harvest is the fruit the seed produces after its own kind and we know the seed is the word so the harvest produced is the word. A man’s life depends entirely on what he sows. Now to make sure you are sowing the correct seeds your heart has to be right can’t be stony and sandy or weedy it needs to be fertile ground so it will grow and produce a good harvest. Good ideas about life “the book leading by intimidation” is a weedy seed it doesn’t come from God it comes from the world. We have to take our ideas about life from God’s word not the world. The first process of all this is, it has to be sown in your heart. You can’t give someone else an idea if it hasn’t been sown in your heart first. We can’t sow the seed into our own heart all we can do is cultivate it and water it, weed it so it grows up to produce good fruit of the seed that was sown in it 30, 60 , 100 fold. Now have we arrived no; now we have to sow what we have into someone else’s life, fruit bearing?  It’s the will of God that we all bear fruit. The fruit is for someone else that we continue the process or cycle. That is why God says our lives our written epistles. Let your joy effect someone else let your peace encourage. This is part of the principle of the seed. This is the first way you become a sower. How else do you become a sower by speaking the word.

Galatians 6:7 (AMP)
⁽⁷⁾ Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.

Galatians 6:6 (AMP)
⁽⁶⁾ Let him who receives instruction in the Word [of God] share all good things with his teacher [contributing to his support].

When the bible talks about money or sowing money it is always to support the propagation of his word. So don’t listen to these preachers that tell you to sow $1000.00 and God will bless you with seven fold that is not a sowing principle that is a love principle and nowhere does it say you will get seven times your money back. So what God is saying is wherever you are taught that is where he wants your support to go because in this world it cost money to do things.

The more fields you sow the more harvest you can reap. The harvest you produce in your life you have to be willing to give it to somebody else that’s what it is all about. God uses people. Here is the beauty in this if you use your money to support a ministry that is preaching the word and that ministry is successful you will reap in that success because you contributed to the ministry. God’s whole kingdom works on this principle. Our needs will only get met by the word of God. Have a great week! 

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Well as I started out with this study talking about a book I read before I took off in five different directions. I quoted a letter from a man named Bob (In part two) who wrote a very honest and open letter to the author about himself. The author goes on to say: This book is my answer to the many believers who are asking the same questions Bob did. I am seeking to introduce many believers to a Christianity that works in the here and now, that empowers us to live in heaven on the way to heaven. The answer is to be found in understanding that the Gospel is the announcement of God’s covenant and how we can walk in its authority and power in the midst of the darkness of the world’s system. Let me warn you: It’s possible that what I am about to share with you may turn your present understanding of the Gospel and the way Christian Life should be lived on its head. If your present understanding of the Gospel is not producing fruit in your life, then it is time to say, “Maybe I have missed something, and it is time to radically reexamine my faith.

This book unfolds the amazing story of the Gospel, looking at it through the eyes and ears of those who first heard it. Words that we are familiar with through reading the bible were pregnant with a meaning to the original audience that we who live in the twenty –first century are ignorant of. They understood the Gospel as the working out of a covenant. Through my years of studying the bible I missed it, mainly because the concept of covenants is almost unknown in the western world today. However, this concept of covenants is known and documented in ancient societies and among peoples of the Third World to this day.

The people who populate the pages and stories of our bible lived in the atmosphere of covenants as the air they breathed. All relationships were linked in some way to a covenant, whether in the union of nations or clans or individuals. The family unit was understood as a covenant, each family member being tightly knit to the others with a sense of covenant responsibility.

This is something that I have personally discovered in my own search for truth in the scriptures. When you study ancient biblical history and you see how cultures have changed, how Gods word has been manipulated, spun, reinvented by almost every culture even to the point of being banished off the face of the earth. Translated into almost every language in the world and who were the translators?  The bible says that the forty authors of the bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit but it doesn’t mention the translators of the word. Why do we have basically one bible and 1500 different denominations? I was amazed from reading about etymology which is the study of words, how the meaning of words has changed over the centuries. The past two years I have been slowly learning the Hebrew language and that is a book by itself. Now as I analyzed this whole situation I began to realize someone has been very busy trying to change and distort Gods word through the ambitions of men? Sound like anyone you know. What a job he has accomplished on the Christian world that mostly is totally unaware of what has gone on. Satan has done such a job through people that he has rendered Christianity a hopeless journey of people bickering over scriptural and denominational differences pitting one denomination against the other. Preaching and teaching such a watered down word of God in fear of political correctness that they have been assimilated into the world to the point where 75% of believers have a worldview of our culture instead of a biblical view. In America the last standing so called Christian nation in my opinion we have lost the culture war to the secular humanists. For many who don’t know secular humanism (Socialism) is a religion and their god is Satan. If you think not, one of the most popular books read on college campuses today is Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for radicals” in the book in his own words he dedicates the book to Lucifer. He is a radical socialist who’s views are permeating out of our government today because the ones in control are socialist’s. That according to our President is his bible and refers to it many times in his various writings.  Yet in the last elections he was supported very strongly by the so called Christian community.  The main stream church in this country has been socialized many now preaching social justice which is a buzz word for socialism. That’s why the bible in the last days talks about the “remnants” who are they? They are the true believers in God’s word and practice it in their daily lives. Denominational churches have become about mans ambitions, performances, programs and fellowship it’s all about feelings and experiences with very little teachings. The corner stone is missing and without that the building crumbles and the power of the word of God has all but disappeared.

Focus point forgive me back to some words from his book:

The bible contains two documents that have been unfortunately named the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.” The word “testament” is not adequate to describe what these two documents are. The correct naming of these two documents is the old covenant and the new covenant.

Now I am going to go one step farther and call them the ORIGINAL COVENANT and the RENEWED COVENANT. I will explain as we go. A little hint, there is nothing new in the new covenant (N.T.) IT’S JUST TRUE. I have carried a little slogan that one of my bible mentors ground in everyone that studied his lessons “The New Testament (Renewed covenant) is in the Old Testament (Original covenant) concealed and the Old Testament (Original covenant) is in the New Testament (Renewed covenant) revealed. It’s one book from Genesis to Revelation where Jesus Christ is on every page and every word is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Now back to the book, He goes on to say:

The new covenant is called new because it made all that went before it old and of no more use as a means of salvation. (This is a teaching point can anyone present the salvation message from the Old Testament, it’s there) It was not just another covenant that improved on the previous one, as this year’s automobile model is an improvement over last years.  The word “new” means new in kind, that which has never been thought or dreamed of before. This covenant is mediated by the Lord Jesus and established in his blood. Membership is in being sealed by the spirit of God, who writes the law on the heart and in the desires of men and women. He is the power of the covenant enabling those within it to live its promises.

Now let’s stop here for a minute, before He explained the new covenant he talked about the old covenant and here is what he said: The old covenant is the covenant that was made with Israel

at Mount Sinai through Moses, their representative’ It was the covenant of the law of the Ten commandments’ the sacrificial system of offering up lambs, bulls, and goats to cover the sins

of the people; the mark and seal of membership in the covenant was the circumcision of the male’

Now here I would like to add something that is missed by many people especially the church in this country. The covenant ceremony in Old Testament times was administered by the priesthood.  The priesthood played a very important part in Old Testament times. They were the people’s representative in communicating with God.  This is why I stand by the statement I have been making all through these studies. To study the bible and interpret it correctly you have to understand the people and customs. Jesus was a Hebrew, the bible was written by Hebrews and if my little saying is correct which I believe it is and the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament. How can you accurately interpret the New Testament without understanding the writings and customs of the people? The foundation is in the Old Testament not the new and when you reverse this process many times the interpretation is flawed. This leads to a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about how we as believers are suppose to live our lives to realize God’s power and blessings in our daily living. This to me has become a big problem and needs to be resolved quickly because time is getting short. Satan has masterfully spread his deception throughout this world and we as believers have been made the target. Now he is bringing on the heat the final battle is becoming more evident with every passing day.

I decided after realizing this in my own life to go back to the beginning where it all started. We need to study our Hebrew roots. We need to know what took place in those times and how it affects us today. Why do I say that, look back in history and you will see we keep making the same mistakes over and over. Because we think we can do it better but in the end it always turns out the same way, with History always proving us wrong.  One of the first things I learned going back to my Hebrew roots is that with God everything is in cycles but man’s thinking is linear. With man there is old in the past and new in the future. Let me ask you who thinks the here and now is better than the past? Not me I would give anything to turn back the clock for this generation to go back when I was a boy for my children and grand children to experience what I did when I was young. This world is very different now and believe me it is not better. The moral values in this world are in free fall and with that bring a host of very bad things. We need to sharpen our minds, shut off the televisions and start learning what is important in this life you are being brain washed, lied to, manipulated and demoralized and turn into useless dirt bags we are all dirt bags you know we were created from dirt, but at least be wise dirt bags.

I know I did it again, took off chasing rabbits or should I say dirt bags? I am so frustrated our country is being hijacked right in front of our eyes and people don’t care that is really sad to me. When I was in my twenty’s I heard Nikita Khrushchev the Russian leader at that time say in a speech that America would never be defeated by war but would fall from within. I never forgot those words; little did I know that when he spoke those words the plan was already being implemented in this country. There was a slow systematic takeover of our news media, our universities, our entertainment industry, judicial system, and our government by secular humanist also called Socialist who were very focused and determined to accomplish their task.(Glenn Beck does a very good job on his show teaching how this came about) While at the same time the Christian community was busy fighting among denominations and doctrines and who could build the biggest churches and the conservative capitalists were busy getting rich. When all was in place the rise of the mysterious wonder man Barack Hussein Obama the leader of the secular humanist mesmerized the clueless dirt bags that were dumb down to the point where half the children graduating from High school could not read or give you change for a dollar without a calculator. Game over , now we have a president whose main goal is to destroy the middle class in this country and reducing this once great and proud country to a banana republic and still over half the people don’t have a clue what’s going on. Very sad, very sad indeed will we survive? Well remember what Jesus said my people parish for lack of wisdom, and many will say Lord, Lord and what was his answer, I never knew you, why because you never took the time to get to know me!

People the time is now, do you really know him, not feelings not emotions but God’s wisdom and knowledge, do you really know him?

I remember a quote Billy Graham said “if God doesn’t punish the United States for what we have become, then he will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology. Hum…………….!

Now let’s review the paragraph before I got carried away. I was talking about:

“Now here I would like to add something that is missed by many people especially the church in this country. The covenant ceremony in Old Testament times was administered by the priesthood.  The priesthood played a very important part in Old Testament times. They were the people’s representative in communicating with God.  This is why I stand by the statement I have been making all through these studies. To study the bible and interpret it correctly you have to understand the people and customs. Jesus was a Hebrew, the bible was written by Hebrews and if my little saying is correct which I believe it is and the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament. How can you accurately interpret the New Testament without understanding the writings and customs of the people? The foundation is in the Old Testament not the new and when you reverse this process many times the interpretation is flawed. This leads to a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about how we as believers are supposed to live our lives to realize God’s power and blessings in our daily living.”

Now I am going to leave you with a question, what is “The order of Melchizedek” talked about in the Old Testament. This plays a very important role in everything we have been talking about and how many things have been misinterpreted in the New Testament in my opinion.

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

Last lesson we left off with 1 Cor.13:7-10,  last time I posted the amplified version this time let’s see what the Message version has to say:

1 Corinthians 13:7-10 (MSG)
⁽⁷⁾ Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
⁽⁸⁾ Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.
⁽⁹⁾ We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.
⁽¹⁰⁾ But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

Seems like there is a lot we don’t really know about God yet, many think they do but I believe there are many surprises ahead. The one thing we do know is that his love is awesome and many times very hard for us to grasp. Many think they do in their head but God’s love is not a head thing it’s a heart thing because without the Holy Spirit’s help there is no way our sinful flesh can deal with God’s agape love.

I wish when I was young I could have mastered this concept in my life, but I didn’t. One thing I have learned is the greater a concept is in the word of God the harder our flesh fights it. That means you really have to be focused to overcome it. It will be a continuous battle of the highest magnitude. The good part is every battle you win makes the next one a little easier.

Look at the first words of verse 7 “Put up with anything” and your flesh is saying “WHAT” put up with anything you’re kidding right? Let’s get it on give me a piece of that “%&*#@.” Now let’s analyze what just went on. Feelings, emotions, angry thoughts, that is like a tsunami coming at your flesh and if you don’t stop it fast, you know how a tsunami works it just keeps coming, and coming, and coming until it consumes everything in its way. That’s what happens when you let the situation get into your head. You need to stop it right in its tracks and say to your flesh I do not receive that into my thoughts. Because once you “LET IT IN” you have lost the battle trust me Satan will use those thoughts to torment you. To cause anger, bad thoughts, un-forgiveness and many other things, shut them down before they get a foot hold in your mind. Remember the mind is the battlefield. I will tell you it’s not easy to do remember the greater the concept the harder the flesh fights it.

Now understanding that is just the first step the written word is to play in dividing between Soul and Spirit.  The second truth, to be Spirit led, you have to be absolutely determined that you are going to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit it has to be a major priority in your life. Because I will say this to you as I have said in other teachings on soul control, desire is the most powerful motivator of consistent human behavior. Whether it’s born of the flesh or the Spirit doesn’t really matter it is the most powerful motivator of consistent human behavior. Now we have talked in past sessions about how to position yourself for wrong desire to be changed and right desire to be intensified but essentially your flesh is never going to give up making demands on you. There will always be desires of the flesh that you have to content with as long as you live in this body of flesh. We are not going to get glorified bodies until the Lord returns. So you are always going to have to deal with fleshly desires and because desire is the most powerful motivator of human behavior to be lead of the Spirit as a life style you are going to have to be absolutely determined or you won’t be and you will yield to the desires of the flesh and you will rationalize it away. You remember what Elijah said in the Old Testament when he came before the people and said how long are you going to halt or limp between two opinions this is what he was talking about the world has an idea and God has a different idea. How long are we going to vacillate between the two?  Before you are going to be truly lead of the Spirit you are going to have to be determined you are going to go the way of the Spirit and not the flesh. That doesn’t mean you get all Spiritual and float off on a fluffy cloud somewhere, that’s not what being lead by the Spirit means it simply means you are going to be determined to have the understanding what the will of God is and determined to do it. No matter what the cost, no matter how hard it may seem at the moment; this is what you are going to do in your life. Very simply even though it may be hard at the moment it is the only road you can walk to the blessing of God. As we just read in the earlier verses this is the only way you are going to get into the land of promise. The only way you are going to walk by faith is to be lead by the Spirit. You are going to have to divide between soul and spirit and be determined that you are going to walk the path of the Spirit. Romans 8: makes it clear why this is so important. Hopefully I don’t have to convince you this is the life style pattern you have to choose but just in case you are wondering look at Romans 8:13 or back up for a minute and look at verse 8:

Romans 8:8 (AMP)
⁽⁸⁾ So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

Those are pretty strong words and we need to really understand what Paul is saying, now look at verse 13.

Romans 8:13 (AMP)
⁽¹³⁾ For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

I love the way the amplified version shouts this out “habitually” and “making extinct, deadening” are you getting the picture. This is not a onetime deal.

You will die biologically and you will die spiritually. You can be born again but if you persist in living after the flesh you will lose your salvation not because it’s a works program, it’s not by works lest any man should boast but we see from the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:22) a whole list of things and they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t mean will never make a mistake the Greek word that says they that do such things “is practice” in other words people that practice this life style will not inherit the kingdom of God. If you are consistently yielding to the works of the flesh the desire and demand your flesh will put on you eventually you will come to a place where you will deny the Lord ship of Jesus in your life which is the only way you lose your salvation. It’s not a works program but God is saying if you practice or if you live this way it will take you so far from God you will come to a point of unbelief where you deny His Lordship and that is how you lose your salvation. The same way you get it, there is no such truth in the bible that once saved always saved that is not the word of God. You can lose it the same way you gain it and that is by believing; you believe he is the son of God confess Him as such you gain the miracle of the new birth your life will never again be the same and there is nothing bad enough you can do that will cost you your salvation no mistake that is so horrible it will cost you your salvation, but on the other hand if your life style doesn’t change if you persist in living after the worlds patterns; meaning the demands of your flesh day after day you will come to a point of unbelief that you will deny the Lordship of Jesus. That’s what it says they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  Now look at verse 17:

Romans 8:17 (AMP)
⁽¹⁷⁾ And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

So you see that it is the spirit led life that brings you to the inheritance of yours in Christ that brings you to the blessing of God. It’s the refusal to deal with the demands and desires of your flesh that leads you toward death an ever increasing experience of cursing and death and if you don’t turn it around you eventually will die. It can cost you your life physically and spiritually. So be powerfully motivated to be lead of the spirit. It is the answer to your quality of life on this earth. This is how you choose life and blessing instead of death and cursing.

There are six things that will cause you to not be lead of the spirit. Things you will have to deal with even though you know what is flesh, and what is spirit, that will enable you to walk in the spirit. Many times you just cruse through life not thinking about much until things start to get tough then you start to think about things. There are times when we become lacks when we are at our weak point so we need to be aware of this. We need to be aware of our walk on a consistent basis because Satan and his boys don’t rest they are always there waiting for the opportunity to pounce and pounce they will.

1. Not making decisions to relieve pressure we talked about this in the section on the soul. Because that is the way Satan attempts to influence you. We talked a lot about pressure in earlier lessons.
2. Fear either produces panic or paralysis’ and neither is of God. You can’t let fear govern your decision making process. Anxiety and worry are nothing but fear.
3. Anything that robs you of your peace.
4. The tendency to rebel against authority. God bring direction in your life through authority that you are rightly related too. Have to overcome selfishness. Your spirit is mindful of God your flesh is mindful of the world and your soul is mindful of self.
5. Selfishness is one thing you will have to overcome if you want to be lead by the spirit. Can’t be your dominant consideration.
6. Impatience will always respond to the demands of the flesh very seldom will it be the act of the spirit.

These are major obstacles to overcome to be lead by the spirit. There is a price to pay; anything worth having is not easy. You have to count the cost. Everything in life has a cost if we want things a certain way. Anything that is worth having is expensive. If it comes easy then be suspicious of it. God doesn’t make things hard but anything in life worth having, there is a cost. Being lead by the spirit; there is a price to be paid you have to know enough of God’s word so you can divide between soul and spirit. If you don’t ever read the bible how in the world are you ever going to divide between soul and spirit it’s impossible. You need to start reading the word this is what life is all about and there is a cost, your time. The reward is being a joint heir with Jesus in the kingdom of God.

Next time “Keys to being Spirit Controlled”

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

The Abrahamic Covenant

Well it wasn’t my intention for this to be a study on the book of job but I must admit I got a little side tracked. I hope that my little excursion into the book of Job stirred up a little interest. The book of Job is so misunderstood by the church and it really needs to be studied so I will put that on my list of future projects. We need to refocus on the theme of this little study The Abrahamic Covenant and how it affects our lives in this present day.

Remember in part four I asked three questions:

• Do these Blessings and Curses pertain to Christians today?
• What determines how they are administered?
• How does God actually fulfill this covenant?

Let’s review these one at a time:

Do these Blessings and Curses pertain to Christians today?

From part three we established that the Abrahamic covenant was unconditional and everlasting. Then Paul tells us in:

Galatians 3:26-29 (NKJV)
⁽²⁶⁾ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
⁽²⁷⁾ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
⁽²⁸⁾ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
⁽²⁹⁾ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So Paul is telling us if we are Christ’s, that is, if we have accepted Christ as our personal Savior, then we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. So if we are heirs then we inherit everything that was Abraham’s, seems pretty clear to me.

What determines how they are administered?

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (MSG)
⁽¹⁾ If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world.
⁽²⁾ All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

The Message version sort of brings it home; “If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments”. Two points here “listen obediently” and “obey ALL His commandments. Two words obediently and all really stick out in my thoughts. The definition of obedient: means submissive to the will of another or to a Christian being submissive to God’s word because His word is His will. We as people of today have learned to spin words and ideas to what we imagine them to be not what they really are. This has become a big problem in our lives today. Nothing is absolute everything is relative and that is not a good thing even God’s word has been spun to the degree that nothing is absolute any more Christians are confused and because of that fact are void of the real power of God’s word. God does not cause bad things to happen to people we do by making bad choices and many times not even knowing that we are doing it because of our lack of knowledge.

How does God actually fulfill this covenant?

Now we come to the third question and this is very interesting. Most Christians today have never heard of this covenant and when told about it,  say well that is the Old Testament I’m a New Testament believer and that doesn’t pertain to me I’m not under the law! Now I must admit eight years ago that was what I believed and is probably the answer I would have given if asked about the Abrahamic Covenant. When I think about it now I become very sad that it took me all these years to learn the truth, the first question every believer should ask is “if it is unconditional and everlasting according to God how can it not pertain to me?” After you think about that one for awhile then you have to ask yourself;

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (MSG)
⁽¹⁾ If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world.
⁽²⁾ All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

Deuteronomy 28:15 (AMP)
⁽¹⁵⁾ But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you this day, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:

In verse 1 He talks about heartily obeying all his commandments then in verse 15 He throws in statutes also; so as believers what do we do with these truths? Well to most we just throw them out because they don’t fit in our plan or the plan that our denomination taught us; don’t you know we are not under the law. Wow I bet Satan just jumps for joy when he hears believers recite that bogus statement which they have heard since they were little children but have no real understanding what Paul was really talking about in the book of Galatians. That is another item on my short list. Well I am feeling that urge to wander again but I need to stay focused on this question. Maybe the question should be how do we as believers fulfill the covenant God gave us? I believe the answer is one word Obey, Obey, Obey and what is it we are to obey His commandments, statutes, and His ordnances. Well we seem to have a problem because the Church say’s we are not under the law. Hum……….!

Now I’ve been through all that in earlier talks anyone that thinks the Church in this country is getting stronger is living in a fantasy world. The secular humanists are taking over this country and the church is hiding in a corner like a whipped puppy. The church has become so splintered it has been taken completely out of the game. Half of them have gone over to the other side accepting social justice as God very words. News flash it’s not, the rest of the church’s have turned into Christian country clubs isolated from the real world, living in this holy la, la, land that very soon is going to come crashing down all around them. People stop with the drama, the theatrics, and get BACK TO THE BASICS get out of your little denominational box and get back to the basic of God’s word because somewhere along the way you missed it. Something is very wrong and it needs to be fixed because many people are being deceived.

God’s word is His covenant with his people this should be the foundation of every believer’s life. Before I understood the covenant I had no road map, nothing tied anything together much like the writer of the book. Again let me quote a section of the book:

I discovered that the “something” I did not know about was the covenant God had made with his people. It is difficult for me now to remember how I looked at scripture before I came to see and understand the covenant. I certainly did not see that everything was working out from the hidden core of the covenant I had a belief system that was incoherent; each part stood by itself as an island in a sea called Christianity, no part having any real relation to the other parts. I believed God created the universe, but I did not see how that related to our salvation. Salvation was the act of God’s love, but it just happened without any connection to certain commitments He had made. My experience of the spirit was a glorious add-on to being saved from sin; I did not see it as vitally part of everything else.

It all lacked the “something” to tie it all together. The promises of God were the Word of God and utterly reliable, but again hung in their own space with no relationship to a commitment in blood that God had made.

Faith was a mystery to me. I pondered the authority with which the heroes of Scripture spoke, and I wondered whence came the authority for them to speak such wonders I did not realize they were speaking out from a prior commitment God had made to them. and for God to honor their words.

Prayer fell into the same category: What did it mean to pray in the name of Jesus? It seemed limiting and liberating at the same time. I did not know that his name was at the heart of the covenant. Even the praise, thanksgiving, and worship in the Psalms were thanking Him for “something,” which I did not realize was a covenant and loyal covenant love.

The discovery of the new covenant made in the blood of God, shed from the wounds of the Lord Jesus, gave to me a new Bible. My vague sea of Christianity gave way to solid land, and the islands of truth and experience came together as a whole. I was introduced to a rest in Christ and an understanding of the place of the spirit in my personal life and of the church that I had never known prior to my discovering the covenant.

Stay tuned,

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

Hello everyone praise God another week is in the history books and spring is just around the corner. As I am writing this we still have about 4 inches of snow on the ground but I hear the birds singing outside my window and that is music to my ears.  Well let’s continue with the third part of this very important series on Spirit, Soul and Body. Last week we ended talking about Hebrews 4:12 this scripture has been embedded in my heart for about six years now and is high in my top ten scripture list.

Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)
⁽¹²⁾ For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Last week we ended with this: So we see then that dividing the soul and the spirit can be tough. Now Paul talks about joints and the marrow and if you are familiar with biology you will understand that the bone close to the marrow softens and the dividing line is very hard to determine so the analogy Paul is making is that it is difficult to determine the divide between what is coming from the soul and what is coming from the spirit the difficulty can be great. It can be impossible without the word of God. Because the word of God is the only two edged sword sharp enough to make the distinction between what is soul without godly input and what is the leading of the spirit, and of course the thought is continuing in the first part of the verse so the idea is if you don’t learn to divide between the two then your decisions are coming out of your soul without the benefit of spiritual influence or direction from the Lord. If you just use your natural being and that is all that is represented in your decision than it is going to rob you of rest put you in unbelief and you won’t make the Promised Land.

Now on the other hand if we learn or are able to understand the steps needed to bring us to a spiritually influenced decision:

• What is God Saying?
• What is my flesh telling me?

If you choose the spirit because that is what Paul is telling us in this verse then you won’t be in unbelief the decisions will be in results of the leading of the Lord and rest will be your confirmation. Can you see it and so we are given the key to learning the difference between the soul without spiritual influence and the leading of the spirit, the key is the word of God now let me make sure you understand something here because often times it’s the Rhema word of God the Holy Spirit word of God spoken to you that you are trying to figure out but that is not the word talked about here the Greek word translated the word of God is not Rhema. This word is logos, which is a reference to the written word and so what God is telling us really helps make choices a lot easier. He’s saying that the written word of God will always show you what is the flesh and what is the Spirit, you may not know what the flesh is and what’s the Spirit but the written word will always make that distinction for you.

Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to be spoken to by the Holy Spirit because he directs the affairs of your life that aren’t specifically addressed to the word the word of God is the general word of God for Believers of all ages but there is a specific will for each individual believer and that’s what is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. Who to Marry? Where to live? What work you should do. He will direct the affairs of your life through the Holy Spirit. Now this is what you have to decide, is that coming from God or is it just my flesh, the worldly influence, influencing my decision or is it really the Holy Spirit? That is the question we always struggle with but the Lord is saying the written word will always make that distinction for you. Even though the written word doesn’t tell you where to live, the written word will show you whether or not it is from God. Let me give you an example; So you get this great job opportunity in Hopeville U.S.A Your mind is churning I could make another $20,000.00 per year beautiful country for hunting and fishing this sounds like God to me. So now you start to wonder is this really the Holy Spirit leading me I’m not sure if this is just the soulish part of me reacting to all the worldly perks this job has to offer or is it the leading of the Holy Spirit how can I know for sure who is really speaking?  The written word will do that for you and here is how it will do it. So you make an appeal to God ok Lord I have to know if this is you or just my flesh and leaning on him he will start bringing verses to your mind that are relevant to the decision on hand. For instance the bible says in Hebrews 10:24 not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together now you know that word assembly in the Greek is interesting it implies every puzzle piece has a place every member has a specific place in that assembly. He is saying don’t mistake in the body of Christ I have called you to be and so you are thinking about the move to Hopeville and you are wondering whether it is soul or spirit and this verse pops to your mind. Now you have checked around in Hopeville and there isn’t a Church out there that you feel you could be a part of you just got your answer. The written word has divided for you. The difference between what your flesh might have wanted in this case did want and what the Lord might be directing you to do.

Now you can also turn that around maybe you have been interested in a particular ministry and you feel in your heart that God is telling you to move to that area and get involved in that ministry that is different you are being directed by the Holy Spirit. Now that’s not to say that job considerations should not be taken into account they should be because another verse in scripture says if you don’t take care of your own you are worse than an infidel. Now in the case I just mentioned about moving because of a certain ministry but you can’t find a job there than maybe it’s not the Holy Spirit because if he is moving you everything will fall into place. There is not one thing that will arise in your life that the word will not clarify for you.

Now another example let’s talk about who to marry for a moment often times that becomes a paramount situation for a single person. Now let me tell you it is really easy to fool yourself when you been believing God for a year or five years or whatever for the right person to come into your life. Then all of the sudden this great person pops into your life and you say wow this must be God, not so fast my friend it is easy to fool yourself and you have to be aware of this fact especially men because they are more visual than women, shouldn’t be, but as a man that is one of our weakness’s now there are a number of biblical principles that should be applied. The first thing the bible talks about is don’t be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. Words mean things don’t be deceived. Many times people make the mistake of thinking they are going to change someone after they are married don’t do it! Even if they tell you they are a Christian that word has become very generic make sure you belief systems are the same. You need to settle those issues before you are married not after because there is another scripture that says two can’t walk together unless they agree. That means they need to be in the same place in the word that you are or you are going to be unequally yoked and you are setting yourself up for problems. That is dividing between soul and spirit.

What about matters of personal behaviors or certain life styles. Sometimes we can do things that do not violate scriptures but our right on the border line of being pulled in the wrong direction. The subtle little things that keep nudging you to live on the edge you know in your heart they are not good but you do it anyway after a while they will become the norm and you won’t think a thing about it. You are opening a door for Satan to mess with your mind and believe me he will take advantage of every opportunity you give him. There is one verse that comes to mind that says avoid the appearance of evil 1 Thess. 5:22

1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 (AMP)
⁽²²⁾ Abstain from evil [shrink from it and keep aloof from it] in whatever form or
whatever kind it may be. ⁽²³⁾ And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

Verse 23 is at the top of my blog and also in my top ten list and is what this whole series is about. When you can watch television programs and movies that are filled with the sins of the flesh (lust, homosexuality, adultery and etc….. and you don’t feel your spirit telling you to turn it off you are crossing over and you are opening yourself up to the wiles of Satan plus by watching that garbage you are promoting the people that are making and profiting by it. It’s called the demoralization of America and Satan has used the people who want to destroy this country to promote this garbage , which also makes Christianity in this country a non issue. How can any Christian explain the lack of moral values in this country with the claim that 80% of people in this country claim to be Christians. Hello! Hello! Anyone home out there!  Something is very wrong in this country. The question is can you receive this? Ok one of my rabbit trails again.

1 Corinthians 8:9 (AMP)
⁽⁹⁾ Only be careful that this power of choice (this permission and liberty to do as you please) which is yours, does not [somehow] become a hindrance (cause of stumbling) to the weak or overscrupulous [giving them an impulse to sin].

The word will always show you the difference between flesh and spirit. The principle of the word is what we need to embrace. There will always be a principle in the word that will help you decide if it is from the flesh or the spirit. You have to understand this, this is good news you don’t ever have to be in the dark again, but you have to be judging and discerning the attitudes of your heart. Because the word will always divide the soul and spirit but you have to be seeking for that division that is the hard part the choice. In a marriage there is one word that will always help you divide and that word is love not the erotic type but the agape love God’s love it never fails. The love that gives the love of 1 Cor. 13:

1 Corinthians 13:7-10 (AMP)
⁽⁷⁾ Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].
⁽⁸⁾ Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled andand cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].
pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed ⁽⁹⁾ For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).
⁽¹⁰⁾ But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).

We will continue next week 

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

The Abrahamic Covenant

Job (cont.)

Last week we seen in six verses the power that Satan has over the earth he used people and natural causes to wipe out everything Job had including his ten children. Now when people read this they say what an awful God but they don’t understand that God’s word tells everyone If you are obedient to my word and ordinances I will bless you if you are not curses will befall you and then he say’s choose life we make that choice. Now every time we disobey is Satan there to do bad things? The bible tells us he is not omniscient so he cannot be everywhere at once but if you continue to disobey sooner or later it will catch up with you, believe me it will! Because you have stepped out from under God’s protection and have left yourself open to the curses. Are you protected many Christians think they are but remember gossiping is just as bad as stealing to God a sin is a sin. Remember what God said my people parish for lack of knowledge.

Do you really understand what lesson God is showing us here. He is showing us that if we understand and keep his covenant, the unconditional and everlasting one that he gave Abraham that we inherited through Abraham’s seed He will protect us. If we choose not to follow his commandments and ordinances he cannot protect us and we open ourselves up to the power of Satan and his band of thugs.

1 John 2:1 (AMP)
⁽¹⁾ MY LITTLE children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father—[it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action].

We have a defense attorney his name is Jesus, He defends us when Satan want’s permission from God to mess with us just like Satan did with Job if we are under God’s umbrella of protection Satan can’t do a thing to us and Jesus will defend us. But if he can’t defend us because the evidence incriminates us then Satan is given the power to mess with us. Now many people do not want to believe this because they do not take responsibility for any of their actions and they are ignorant to God’s word. Satan has been a busy little beaver deceiving many believers, they do not have a clue what has been going on for decades in the church just like what Satan has done through people, to this country for the past eighty years. He has demoralized this country by using people with a secular humanist agenda to destroy our Christian faith through our public school system, our judicial system, television, movies and our written media. Christians have been brain washed, desensitize and duped into believing the Separation of Church and State to remove the very principles this country was founded on. Christians don’t realize that secular humanism is the religion of unbelievers and they have even infiltrated every denomination in this country with their agenda of social justice which is a buzz word for socialism. David Horowitz who is a fox news contributor and whose parents including him were Marxist’s until he finally seen what was happening to this country and now fights against these people. He was asked some time ago if the Church in this country has been compromised and he started to laugh he said it’s been fifty years and they were the easiest. He also said the people are called changers and they have infiltrated every denomination and most of the Christian colleges and seminaries. They push their agenda of social justice and confusion among the brethren do not buy into this agenda. Read the word nowhere in the bible does God talk about Social justice this is political correctness and it is destroying this country. Well got a little off track again I guess you can tell this topic upsets me so many Christians are ignorant to the word and our buying into this nonsense. Just read an article that stated that 12,000 pastors in this country signed a document that states they believe in evolution. People this is really scary the end times have to be really close so pay attention.

Now I had a few other points I wanted to bring up before I got off track. Have you ever wondered why God did not protect Jobs Family?   Seems to go along with the theme of the blessings and curses, his children it seems did not share Jobs faith all they wanted to do was party and the outcome was? Well it seems a whirlwind came and blew down the house and in whose power was the wind or so called natural disaster. Act of God, I don’t think so, but why is that phrase always used when disasters happen? My people parish from lack of knowledge and wisdom something to think about!

Job 1:18-19 (AMP)
⁽¹⁸⁾ While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,
⁽¹⁹⁾ And behold, there came a great [whirlwind] from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

Now we have the famous words that many pastors use at funerals “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed (praised and magnified in worship) be the name of the Lord”!

Job 1:20-21 (AMP)
⁽²⁰⁾ Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped
⁽²¹⁾ And said, Naked (without possessions) came I [into this world] from my mother’s womb, and naked (without possessions) shall I depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed (praised and magnified in worship) be the name of the Lord!

Now who spoke those words well if we read verse twenty it becomes pretty clear who it was, Job. Now remember in an earlier lesson we said Job’s knowledge of God was very limited and he didn’t understand God that well so he assumed that God was punishing him or causing those things to happen but he didn’t blame God he was confused. Now there are a couple of points I want to address now first of all in 2 Tim 3:16 we read:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (AMP)
⁽¹⁶⁾ Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action),
⁽¹⁷⁾ So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So we understand that God must have had reasons for the book of Job it’s not an allegory fairy tale to tell our children about it’s to teach us and equip us for His good work. My second point, the story tells us that Job was very wealthy and prosperous in his life, now what Job went through was not a pleasant experience but as we study we see that Job’s ordeal was a small part of Job’s life, his trials lasted approximately six months and he lived 200 – 250 years. We are also told in the book that after his ordeal God doubled all his earthly possessions. So keep this in mind as you ponder Job’s life.

Now we see in chapter two that maybe God is using Job to teach us. In verse three of chapter two in the King James version God speaking:

Job 2:3 (KJV)
⁽³⁾ And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

The way the King James Version translates the verse it implies that God is offering Job to Satan but if you look at the translation in Youngs literal translation which is a more accurate translation of the Hebrew text look how it reads:

Job 2:3 (YLT)
⁽³⁾ And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, `Hast thou set thy heart unto My servant Job because there is none like him in the land, a man perfect and upright, fearing God and turning aside from evil? and still he is keeping hold on his integrity, and thou dost move Me against him to swallow him up for nought!’

God knew that Satan was watching Job and that he Satan had set his heart on Job. God is about to show us many lessons in the rest of the book of Job. It is not why the righteous suffer.

I didn’t really intend this to be a study on the book of Job, but this book is totally misunderstood by many Christians. When I learned these truths about four years ago I realized that I was duped into believing many things about the bible because of lack of knowledge, denominational teachings, commentaries that were written to convey a certain point of view, our way of thinking,(Hebrew vs Greek) and the bible translations and the meaning of words.  People today study the bible backwards, they start in the New Testament and try to prove there points in the Old Testament. The bible was first written in Hebrew not Greek, Hebrew and Greek thinking is completely different. What I am saying is you have to understand the Old Testament from a Hebrews way of thinking and the meaning of their words and customs to really understand the New Testament but that is not the way most Christians today are taught. Many Christians have never studied the Old Testament or have even read it. That’s how so many have been deceived over the years with bad theology and not always because people know it’s wrong the problem is they don’t know the TRUTH! Time is getting short and you need to really understand the times that are coming. Sometimes I feel like Isaiah or Ezekiel crying out people, people shut off your idiot tubes and study my words the time is nigh! Oh My!!!!!

Till next week Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

p.s. I would love to hear your comments on these teachings. I want to stir your inner thoughts!

We now begin the third part of this series called soul control, like we have said whoever controls your Soul controls your destiny. Because your life up to this point is a reflection of the decisions you have made you can’t blame anyone else because God gave you that choice. Remember God said I place before you this day Life and blessings and curses and death you choose, it can’t be stated much clearer than that!

Now we have talked about the body and how Satan uses his worldly influences to try to deceive us through our bodily functions sight, touch, etc… We have also talked about our soul which consists of our mind, will, and emotions this as you have experienced over many weeks plays a big part in Satan’s plan to deceive you. Now we are moving on to the Spirit and how God labors to influence you through your Spirit to make decisions for life and blessings. This is so basic but if we don’t understand this we will be wandering through life not knowing why things work out the way they do and we will be blaming God, blaming Satan or blaming somebody else. No this is the process; God does not over ride your free moral agency He won’t allow Satan to, He certainly won’t allow other people too. You have been given the right to choose your own destiny.

We are going to begin talking about how the Lord labors to make your decision making process through your spirit. A good place to begin would be to talk, for just a bit about one of the greatest challenges we are going to have in making decisions. That division between soul and spirit; soul without spiritual influence produces soulish decisions, soulish thinking, and soulish feeling without the input intended to come from God through your spirit. How do you divide between the soul and then something that is really being spoken to you by the spirit of God through your spirit, because making that distinction is where much of the challenge and decision making lies? Most Christians at least those that have grown up on the word to a degree are interested in making decisions in line with God’s word.

The challenge is deciding what really is coming from God, because you make dozens of decisions every day, what may not be coming from God meaning your soul operating without the benefit of spiritual influence and learning to distinguish between those things? How many times a day do you say to yourself I wonder if that was God or not. I wish I knew if God would rather have me do this or would rather have me do that. If I only knew what God wanted me to do? How many times do we go through this exercise? Do we at all, some may be thinking what is he talking about. Well I want to share with you what I think is the beginning of putting the right process to work in your life leading a spirit lead life. Let’s look at Hebrews 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)
⁽¹²⁾ For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

I love the way the amplified version translates this verse if this verse was operating in every Christians Heart the world would be a different place and I don’t say this with a pious attitude because this is a battle everyday but when you conquer it, it take you to a deeper level in your walk with the Lord. For many years I would have been one that said what is he talking about I didn’t understand that God had laid out a specific plan for how he want Christians to operate in this life. Not so my friend there is a plan a very specific one that we need to know about and then the decision is up to us!

Now listen carefully, the first part of this chapter is a reference to the experience the children of Israel had in the wilderness the generation that died there, you should remember the account so for this series there is no point dwelling on it. They were blessed to experience deliverance from the bondage of Egypt and then by the supernatural direction of God they were being directed towards the land of promise, the land that flowed with milk and honey of course that is not a type of heaven as you hear some preach it today. Because there were giants in that land, walled cities that had to be taken and of course there are no giants or walled cities in heaven. So it is the type of a life available to those that are in Christ, believers that had become children of God. Of course that means for you there is a divine plan where we are going to be blessed; we are going to experience Godly provisions that exceed our ability to generate on our own. That is far beyond according to the New Testament we can even ask for things, things that we have never seen, ear has not heard neither has entered the heart of man. God has an awesome plan for every believer a land that flows with milk and honey where you will be content and fulfilled in your life, but it is going to be a fight to get there, there are going to be some giants you will have to overcome some walled cities you will have to defeat but he is saying to them in me you can do it I have already given you the land. The ones that didn’t enter in, the ones that died in the wilderness don’t miss this truth, they didn’t die in the wilderness because of their mistakes, because of their sin of murder, adultery, even idolatry that’s not what kept them out of the Promised Land the word says they stayed out for one reason and that was unbelief.

We read a little about that in Hebrew chapter four verse two; and unto us the gospel was preached as also unto them he’s talking about that generation but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith and them that heard it, in other words they didn’t believe. Then he goes on to say for we who believe do enter into rest verse five and in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest. Then verse six talks about unbelief.

Hebrews 4:2-6 (AMP)
⁽²⁾ For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe).
⁽³⁾ For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the world.
⁽⁴⁾ For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.
⁽⁵⁾ And [they forfeited their part in it, for] in this [passage] He said, They shall not enter My rest.
⁽⁶⁾ Seeing then that the promise remains over [from past times] for some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were given the good news about it and the opportunity, failed to appropriate it and did not enter because of disobedience,

Now that having been said look at verse nine There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God for he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Hebrews 4:9-11 (AMP)
⁽⁹⁾ So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God;
⁽¹⁰⁾ For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.
⁽¹¹⁾ Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].

Now this is not head faith, it’s a matter of the heart. It’s when you know something in your heart beyond a shadow of a doubt. That’s faith and one of the best ways to figure out if you are kidding yourself is the matter of rest. Because when you believe that God is giving you the land then you can take those giants, you can take those walled cities because God has given you the land that you enter in to rest. You quit worrying about it, you quit trying to figure out how to do it, and you quit staying up nights thinking on it, you enter into rest when you are in faith. So we see very clearly unbelief is the only thing that will keep you out of your land of promise and one of the primary ways of knowing if you are in unbelief is whether or not you are resting in your heart and mind.

This is an internal matter and you know inside in your heart if you are resting. That is your primary indicator to whether or not you are in faith now let me tell you something if you are not in faith you will not enter in to your land of promise. You have to believe, you have to trust God when things get so dark you can’t see the end of the tunnel spiritual speaking you see nothing working nothing is happening you have to believe that God causes you always to triumph in Christ. God is perfecting that which concerns you that God is working in you to perform the thing that was appointed unto you, God will do it; because you can’t do it so quit sweating it and enter into His rest. It’s just the truth; unbelief is the only thing that will keep you from the promises of God for your life. He’s the one that said He would do it; He’s the one that said He would perform it so let’s just believe it. Amen and amen we make it to difficult. Just enter into that place of rest and that is your assurance that you are on your way to that place of promise. Now to get to my main verse this is verse 12:

Hebrews 4:12 (AMP)
⁽¹²⁾ For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

So we see then that dividing the soul and the spirit can be tough. Now Paul talks about joints and the marrow and if you are familiar with biology you will understand that the bone close to the marrow softens and the dividing line is very hard to determine so the analogy Paul is making is that it is difficult to determine the divide between what is coming from the soul and what is coming from the spirit the difficulty can be great. It can be impossible without the word of God. Because the word of God is the only two edged sword sharp enough to make the distinction between what is soul without godly input and what is the leading of the spirit, and of course the thought is continuing in the first part of the verse so the idea is if you don’t learn to divide between the two then your decisions are coming out of your soul without the benefit of spiritual influence or direction from the Lord. If you just use your natural being and that is all that is represented in your decision than it is going to rob you of rest put you in unbelief and you won’t make the Promised Land.

I am going to break right here for this week, meditate on this verse, memorize this verse and tuck it deep in your heart it is very important. GOOD STUFF!!!!  

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD

The Abrahamic Covenant

Job (cont.)

Last week we learned that Job was honest inside and out, a man of his word, was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion. We also said that Job knew God by creation (nature around him) and he had his conscience. No bible, no Holy Spirit to guide him very little information about God. Did not really understand God that well we also know that he lived before the dispensation of covenant with Abraham and he was a Gentile not a Jew. We also know that he was wealthy look at verse 3:

Job 1:3 (AMP)
(3) He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very great body of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.

Job was blessed with many earthly possessions. We also are told that he had ten children and maybe they weren’t as honest and upright as he was look at verses 4 & 5.

Job 1:4-5 (AMP)
⁽⁴⁾ His sons used to go and feast in the house of each on his day (birthday) in turn, and they invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
⁽⁵⁾ And when the days of their feasting were over, Job sent for them to purify and hallow them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed or disowned God in their hearts. Thus did Job at all [such] times.

Sounds like Job was not sure his children were following in his footsteps. He was fearful of his children’s intentions we will talk about that a little later.

Now it starts to get interesting let’s look at verses 6 & 7:

Job 1:6-7 (AMP)
⁽⁶⁾ Now there was a day when the sons (the angels) of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (the adversary and accuser) also came among them.
⁽⁷⁾ And the Lord said to Satan, From where did you come? Then Satan answered the Lord, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.

Now we read in verse 6 Satan in heaven, hum…. and God is having a conversation with him very interesting, before I comment lets read a little further.

Job 1:8-10 (AMP)
(8) And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who [reverently] fears God and abstains from and shuns evil [because it is wrong]?
(9) Then Satan answered the Lord, Does Job [reverently] fear God for nothing?
(10) Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

These three verses are very important and very rarely talked about or taught. Let’s see if we can spur some thought. Let’s start with this question why is Satan in Heaven, have you ever thought about that? Who is Satan? Well we know he is the great deceiver he is also our adversary and accuser of the brethren.

First I would like to talk about the wording or the translation of verse 8. Where the Lord speaks to Satan and says have you considered my servant Job. Specifically the word considered, it sort of implies that God is picking out Job which is a big misconception that causes the question why do the righteous suffer. Let’s look at the translation of that same verse in the YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) because it is a truer translation of what that word really means.

Job 1:8 (YLT)
⁽⁸⁾ And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary, `Hast thou set thy heart against My servant Job because there is none like him in the land, a man perfect and upright, fearing God, and turning aside from evil?’

You see God wasn’t offering Job to Satan, God knew what Satan was thinking. Now why do I say this because we know that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, so what is the process Satan uses to accuse. I think we see from these verses that he takes his case to God.  Now here is what many people don’t understand back during Jobs time before God made his covenant with Abraham and Jesus was not on the scene yet, Satan had to go to God before he could mess with anyone. Oh come on PapaJD what are you talking about? Look at verse 10 what does Satan say to Jesus “Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”  Sounds like Satan knew about the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy 28 before God gave them to Abraham. Satan is saying to God you have blessed him and his household why, because Job was honest inside and out, a man of his word, was totally devoted to God and Hated evil with a passion and you have put a hedge around him in other words Satan could not do anything to him if he had Gods covering or hedge around him.

Now let’s stop here for a minute and talk about the present. Does God put a hedge around people today? I believe he does, based on the blessings and curses the Abrahamic covenant which we know was an unconditional and everlasting covenant God made with his people. So how does it work today? The bible tells us that Jesus is our advocate with the Father, in other words Jesus is our defense attorney against the accusations of Satan. Now here is where many people get confused, salvation gets you into God’s kingdom but just because you have spoken the sinner’s prayer and accepted Jesus into your heart there still is a dying of self that has to occur that is the obedience part that many do either not believe or live in their lives. This is what Paul talks about in Romans chapters 6-8. The obedience brings you blessings in this life. Many Christians believe they are being obedient because they spend every Sunday and maybe Wednesday in church that’s what I thought for many years don’t be deceived. If you think you are being obedient I challenge you to do my study on Hang ‘in with the young at heart. So to finish my point when Satan brings his accusation about you to Jesus and you through your own will,(God gave us that remember) or lack of knowledge are not obedient to God’s word Jesus cannot defend you not because he doesn’t what to but because you have not by lack of knowledge or will been obedient to God. You bring that hedge of protection down yourself God doesn’t.  I pray that you see this and understand the consequences of your own actions it can be deadly.

Now to prove my point let’s go back to Job, look what Satan says in verses 9 & 10  God you must be protecting and blessing him look at his household and his wealth. Satan speaking “does Job fear God for nothing,” so isn’t Satan saying that Job feared God because he knew he would be blessed? Sure sounds that way to me. Let’s go on the next two verses are also very interesting and sort of prove my statements.

Job 1:11-12 (AMP)
⁽ 11) But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.
(12) And the Lord said to Satan (the adversary and the accuser), Behold, all that he has is in your power, only upon the man himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

Two important points; The Lord tells Satan “all that Job has is in your power” So the next time a natural disaster happens and people say it was an act of God, No sorry it’s an act of Satan and later on we will take a closer look at what that power entails. Point number two “ only upon the man himself put not forth your hand.” Why did God not protect the rest of Job’s family? Are you beginning to see the picture remember in the beginning verses Job was giving offerings to his family because he knew they were not being obedient to God? Hum………………..!

Job 1:13-19 (AMP)
(13) And there was a day when [Job’s] sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house [on his birthday],
(14) And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
(15) And the Sabeans swooped down upon them and took away [the animals]. Indeed, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
(16) While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
(17) While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans divided into three bands and made a raid upon the camels and have taken them away, yes, and have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
(18) While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,
(19) And behold, there came a great [whirlwind] from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.

So in six verses the power that Satan has over the earth he used people and natural causes to wipe out everything Job had including his ten children. Now when people read this they say what an awful God but they don’t understand that God’s word tells everyone If you are obedient to my word and ordinances I will bless you if you are not curses will befall you and then he say’s choose life we make that choice. Now every time we disobey is Satan there to do bad things? The bible tells us he is not omniscient so he cannot be everywhere at once but if you continue to disobey sooner or later it will catch up with you, believe me it will! Because you have stepped out from under God’s protection and have left yourself open to the curses. Are you protected many Christians think they are but remember gossiping is just as bad as stealing to God a sin is a sin. Remember what God said my people parish for lack of knowledge.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 (AMP)
⁽²³⁾ And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

Make sure you really understand what Paul is telling us in this verse, this is very important to your life on this earth. Whoever controls your soul controls your destiny. Study it; understand it, live it and your life will be a blessing unto the Lord.

I think I will stop here for this week, but there are still some thought provoking incidents I would still like to explore in the book of Job. We will continue next week.

Shalom Alecheim,

PapaJD